The Dead Cannot Die
by blackeyedgurl
Summary: Did Spike fulfill a prophecy meant for another? How will Buffy cope? Definate Spuffy Possibilities. Post-Chosen Alt Universe Buffy 8 Angel 5
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: All Characters are property of Fox Entertainment, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Entertainment and people in high places like that. Angel the Series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are copyrighted, no infringement is intended. This story is for entertainment purposes only, I am in no way fiscally benefitiing from its creation, I'm just not lucky like that. Any characters not of the Whedon universe are mine, ask and I will share them.

Timeline: Post Season 7 of Buffy, Season 5 of Angel.

Feedback? That's my girl, lay it all on me at blackeydgurl

Reproduction? Only with my permission, ask, I don't bite!

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The dust began to settle in the crater. It felt as if days had passed by, when it had been simple hours, maybe minutes. It was light out, that was for sure. He could see where it was coming from, but he wasn't sure if he should go to it. He could feel his heart beating, and hear the blood pushing its way through arteries and veins long free of such work. He was thirsty, and dirty and tired.

How could this even be? He remembered the shining light, the cavern around him crumbling, and falling. In a sense, he could feel the soul in him celebrating, it was dancing inside of him. He remembered holding her hand, and the fire it had created. Was it from the fire he held for her, the spark? Was she being truthful when she had told him of her love for him? Was their love for each other what generated the spark, the fire that lit their hands?

Before the cavern everything was bits and pieces. He knew that he was not alive before this moment, and all he could remember was her face. After she went up the stairs, out of this place he had felt a rush of light pass through him, and then nothing, darkness, a void. And now, he could see light, and feel with his hands the destruction around him. Had there been some sort of earthquake? Was he trapped below the rubble? Would someone find him? Would they know who he was? He didn't.

By evening he had made it to the edge of the crater; his hand reached up and felt the first piece of solid land he had touched. He hoisted himself out of the hole and turned to see it behind him, even at night small fires burned and he could see the vast nature of it. Had he crawled from that? Beneath him now was a road, around him, sand and cacti. He was in a desert, and had to find his way out, the road was the simplest solution.

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The gang had reloaded onto the school bus. Giles took over driving duty as Wood had no business behind the wheel. Lucky for him, having a slayer for a mother helped him heal more quickly than others. Faith sat with him, holding him, consoling him. Buffy had never seen Faith act with such tenderness, except when it came to Angel, but even that wasn't like this. Dawn had fallen asleep almost immediately after getting back onto the bus. The newly anointed slayers sat and chatted, when were those girls silent? Did they ever actually sleep?

Xander and Andrew quietly talked, at first about Anya, but eventually about the strange world of comic books and science fiction that Buffy never realized Xander had a clue about. It must have been one of those guy things he never mentioned. Willow laid in Kennedy's arms, asleep, drained of all the energy she had. Buffy sat at the back of the bus, in the last seat. She couldn't help but look back, half expecting him to be chasing the bus, screaming for them to "bloody well stop," that his undead body could only tolerate so much abuse. But he was never there.

She decided they should go to Los Angeles. Angel was there, and his big ass hotel with enough room for them to come up with a plan. Angel was really the last person she wanted to see right now, especially after the incident in the graveyard. She loved him, and always would, but somewhere inside her she knew that she loved Spike too. It was less like the love she had for Angel, it was more, grown-up maybe? She felt safe with Spike, unjudged, unconditionally loved, trusted whole heartedly, but most of all she didn't feel alone.

Now she wasn't completely alone in the world, the burden of slayerhood was no longer hers and Faith's alone to bear. There were girls all over the world with the power to stop the forces of darkness, so what did that leave her with? An unfinished college degree from a school that no longer existed? A resume with 2 jobs on it, from places that no longer existed? Her slate had been wiped clean. She didn't even need to pay for repairs to chateau Summers, or feed all these mouths anymore. Of the two men she loved, one no longer existed, the other unattainable, still. What was she going to do? Right now, she was going to cry, quietly, looking back, not looking forward.


	2. Chapter 2

Eventually a vehicle picked him up. It must have hit the end of the road and turned around, because it was headed the same way he was, away from the hole. The driver was headed back to LA, unable to go to Sunnydale, and he just agreed that he would go there too.

"You're not one for words are you?" The driver asked.

"Guess not. Don't have much to say." He continued looking out the window at the world whizzing past him.

"Well, you must have been in that earthquake back there. Can't expect too many survivors out of something like that. Surprised, never heard anything about it on the news."

The driver finally gave up on talking to him. He decided that his passenger must be shell-shocked after an event like that. After an hour of silence the passenger spoke.

"Do you have anything to drink?"

"Yeah, on the back seat is a cooler, grab yourself something. I bet you are thirsty, what with all that walking, and the quake."

"Yeah, I suppose so." He leaned over the seat and began to rifle through the ice. It was cold on his hands. It melted from the heat he projected. He knew this felt alien, strange, but he was not sure why. He grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it down.

"So, do you have a name? I'm Barton Smith, but my friends call me Bart."

"I really don't know. I think it might be William, but I can't quite remember, a lot of things are only bits and pieces. I can't quite put it all together."

"Understandably so, probably knocked your head pretty hard in that quake. Judging from the bruise on your head, I would bet that's the case."

William pulled down the visor in front of him to look in the mirror. He looked like hell, or like he had been to hell. The left side of his forehead was purple and blue, with broken capillaries just under the skin. Just touching it made him wince in pain. The whites of his clear blue eyes were the only clean looking surface on his face. He was dirty, his shirt torn at the neck, his light brown hair a mess of curls. Light brown hair, that seemed out of place. It wasn't familiar. Then again, nothing much seemed familiar. All he could remember was her face.

"Do you have any forms of identification on you? That might help. You sound English, so maybe you have a passport or something like that."

English, yeah that sounded right. He was from England, he had come here years ago. He felt his pockets, but there was nothing in them. Bart gave up on questions again. He began driving faster. There was no one around for miles, this area so desolate not even the police would hunt down speeders.

" This day just keeps getting stranger, its like a bad trip! Look man, a school bus in the middle of the night!"

William looked up, he saw a girl in the back window, crying. She looked out the window and it felt like her eyes burned straight through him. The recognition was instant. That was the girl in his memory! The one he remembered. He put his hand to the glass as they passed and turned to watch her as long as he could. Bart passed the bus before he could think to say anything. Should he make Bart stop and let him out? Surely those people would know who he was and stop for him. What if they don't remember him either? What if they didn't recognize him? He turned around and looked back; the bus grew smaller and smaller as Bart accelerated. He wanted to reach out his hand, he wanted this car to stop, he wanted to touch her face, instead he turned around and slumped down in his seat. This was going to be a long night.

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It was strange. It felt like the rest of the world had just disappeared. Maybe they didn't stop the apocalypse. Maybe the Hellmouth in Cleveland opened up and finished the job the one in Sunnydale couldn't. They hadn't passed a car or any signs of life for miles. A while back she had seen a snake warming itself on the road, in the lane opposite of their own. But it wouldn't surprise her if the snakes survived the apocalypse, I mean they were creepy enough, and plus lots of evil things took the shape of snakes so why not let snakes live, right?

The tears sort of flowed on their own now. She didn't sob or heave, the tears just trickled out of her eyes as they felt. Tears of exhaustion, tears of relief, tears of joy, tears of anguish, they didn't differentiate, they all just flowed together into a salty river down her cheeks.

She was surprised when after so long alone on the road, a set of headlights began coming up on them. She tried to wipe the tears away, and look up, the lights were almost blinding after all this darkness. But through them she could see something, the car quickly made advances to pass them, but she could see it, or him.

"Spike!" She suddenly cried out. She put her hand to the window as the car started to pass. She got up and ran to the front of the bus. "Giles, put the pedal to the metal, Spike was in that car! Come on!"

"Buffy, you need to rest. Spike's, well, I suppose he is dead. There is no way he could have survived that, even as a vampire. The fact is it was daylight out when it happened, so even if he made it through he would have hit the light, and well, become a large pile of dust."

"No Giles, that was him, I know it was him. I could feel it. Isn't that creepy?"

"Buffy, go rest, you are delirious. We should be in LA in just about an hour. Then we can try to sort this all out."

"You never believe me." Buffy muttered under her breath as she turned around to head back to her seat.

"I do believe you, but this bus doesn't go much faster than this, so we really have no choice. We will look into it once we get to LA."

Buffy didn't turn around, she just kept walking. She didn't believe Giles, but it was nice to hear him try. She started to doubt herself. Maybe he was right, she was just seeing things because she was so tired. She started to think maybe Faith had a good idea when she mentioned sleeping for a week. Maybe she'd do that, just lay in bed crying, letting it all out. She had eight years of her life, 2 deaths, 3 loves, and countless moments of terror behind her, it was a lot of emotion she just couldn't contain anymore. Maybe she would lay in there and have Angel bring her breakfast in bed. No, she knew that was a bad idea, post-cookie dough speech she knew things between them were undeniably changed, but not changed in a good way. Both of them needed to move on, go forward, get over it. Breakfast in bed wouldn't help that along. Besides the turning evil, her and Angel had a new point of contention between them, namely Spike. Spike was gone now, but she knew somehow that Angel would never forgive her or forget about her and him.


	3. Chapter 3

The car was parked when he woke up, and he was alone in it. They were in a city, assumably LA, and Bart was no where to be seen. Would it be rude to just up and leave? The car was outside of some sort of apartment building. It was strange, he couldn't remember much, but none of these things, surprised him, he was a bit disturbed by it.  
  
His body ached. He wanted nothing more than to climb into a warm bed and sleep for a week or two. The minute thoughts like this entered his mind, he remembered her face, honey golden hair, green eyes full of sorrow, soft skin, the perfect smile. He knew he had to find her, but in a city this large there was just no way, he didn't even know where to start.  
  
"Hey, you're awake! Come on up, my buddy said you can use his shower and use the phone to call someone to get you. How's that sound?"  
  
"Great."  
  
William followed Bart up to the apartment. It was a dump, but it had running water, and that was enough for him. When he was done showering, the friend offered him a shirt to replace the much destroyed one he had been sporting. He hated feeling like a charity case, but he didn't know what else to do.  
  
"So man, you wanna call someone to get you or something?"  
  
"I would, if I could remember anything. I need to find this girl, this girl I think I know, she's all I can remember."  
  
"What's her name? We can look it up in the phone book."  
  
"I can't remember."  
  
"Man, you don't rememebr shit do you?"  
  
"No, I bloody well don't, lay the hell off."  
  
"John, lay off, if you saw what he must have crawled out of you'd probably understand more. I've never seen anything like that."  
  
"Well, maybe there is someone out there who can deal with cases like this. I mean this happens to people all the time right?" John went rummaging through a pile of books, finally triumphantly holding a phone book in the air. "This is the ticket!"  
  
He began thumbing through it, writing down phone numbers and addresses of private investigators, psychics, and psychologists. John gave the list to William.  
  
"If I were you, I'd start digging through that list for some help. Something's gotta work. But right now, I'm gonna crash." John left the room.  
  
Bart had passed out on an easy chair. William didn't know what to do. He looked at the list, at the top was: Angel Investigations 555-4357. This seemed familiar, but he really couldn't tell how. He picked up the telephone and dialed the number.  
  
"Angel investigations, we help the hopeless."  
  
"He-he-hello?" He stuttered the word out.  
  
"Yeah?" The woman on the other end sounded young, and annoyed.  
  
"I'm sorry, is it too late to be calling?"  
  
"No, how can we help you?"  
  
"I don't know that you can. This is going to sound crazy; see I can't remember who I am, and I need to find this girl, whose name I don't remember either, and I don't know what happened really before climbing out of a large crater in the desert."  
  
"Uh huh, so let me see, no memory, giant crater, middle of the desert?" She sounded like she was trying to write it all down. "Oh yeah and there is a mystery girl you need to find."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"Well, why don't you come over, and we can see if there is anything we can do. This crater thing might be a lead of some sort."  
  
"I don't have a way to get there."  
  
"It's all good, we can send a car for you. Wait. Hey Angel, we can send cars to get clients now can't we? Okay. Yeah we can send a car to get you, and the address showed up on the caller ID so we know where you are. Wow caller ID is amazing isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah, sure."  
  
"Sorry, we'll have someone there in about 10 minutes? okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Hold tight, we'll try our best to help you out."  
  
"Thank you. Thank you for believing me, I don't think I'd believe me if I were hearing this."  
  
"You'd be surprised some of the stuff we've heard, nothings too wierd."  
  
He heard the phone click. William woke Bart up.  
  
"Someone is coming to get me. Thanks for the ride, and everything. I appreciate it."  
  
"Yeah man, take care." Bart was asleep again before his head rested on the chair back.  
  
William headed downstairs to the doorway to wait for the ride to come. LA was fetid, it stank, and he felt overly aware of this. It was strange he could feel dawn approaching, and had every desire to find somewhere to hide. Everything was rich, color, sound, smell, he would swear up and down he could taste the few people on the street. By taste he meant this salty sensation on his tongue. This felt normal, while so many other things felt alien. 


	4. Chapter 4

The bus pulled in behind two limos outside of the Hyperion hotel. Giles wondered if there was some sort of celebrity inside, it being LA afterall. The girls gathered themselves and the wounded. They also woke up the sleeping passengers. Buffy joined Giles at the front of the bus.   
  
"So how do we say, hey Angel, we just averted another apocalyspe but in doing so we also destroyed an entire city?"  
  
"Buffy, I think that says it all. He should understand."  
  
"Yeah, I mean when he came to see me he knew what we were up against, so this shouldn't be much of a surprise, but still showing up at his doorstep in the middle of the night, wait is it morning?"  
  
"I think it is."  
  
"Yeah, well I mean I'm showing up with like 20 bodies, some in not so good of shape and I am expecting them to just welcome us with open arms. Its wierd, I feel wierd about this. Do you feel weird?"  
  
"No, not weird so much as tired. Come on lets head in." Giles put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. She liked it when he did things like this, it made her own father seem not so distant. After so many weeks and months of fighting with Giles, it was nice just to feel safe in his arms again.  
  
Buffy lead the troops inside.   
  
"Yo, I know its crazy out there, but this is no hospital, take your injured somewhere else." Gunn said as Buffy and company brought in the wounded.  
  
"Buffy? Faith?" Wesley ran towards the door.  
  
"You know these people? Wait, hey Faith, Willow." Gunn gave them a nod, and came over to help them carry the injured.  
  
"Buffy, Faith, what happened? Why are you here?"  
  
"Yo Wes, see its like this, another apocalypse averted by yours truly and B here, consequence? Sunnydale, now known as Craterdale." Faith set down Wood's body and walked toward Wesley.  
  
"They did marvelously. One hell mouth, closed for business." Giles walked over to Wesley and shook his hand.  
  
"Nice to see you all made it out alive. Were there many casulties?"  
  
"We lost Spike and Anya, and probably about 10 slayers at least."  
  
"Ten slayers? Giles, you mis-spoke. You must mean 10 potentials."  
  
"No, they're all slayers now. Long story, lets just say, Willow took the power from the shadowmen, our watcher precursors, which was possible by using the scythe the, I guess they could be called protectors of slayers made, and she channeled the slayer essence into every girl in the world who had the possibility of being slayer. In short, there is not 'one girl in all the world,' more like a lot of girls around the world. Our mini-slayer army fought them off long enough for the amulet to wipe them out, and eventually Sunnydale." Giles stood back and watched the girls work on each other. Gunn had grabbed the first aid kit out of their supply and was helping them.  
  
"Wow. Well I guess thats a way to avert an apocalypse. I heard it was the first evil, sounded bad."  
  
"It was, but the first has been safely been put back in its place, its army destroyed, as well as its residential hell mouth. Quite a fulfilling day."  
  
"Buffy!" Angel came running down the stairs, "Is this fall back, or success?"  
  
"It's success, I guess. I mean hello, we destroyed an entire city, but the first has been stopped, army gone. So no need to rally the troops."  
  
"Where's Spike?"  
  
"Dead."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Amulet, wiped out all of the ubervamps, by shooting a beam of sunlight at them, in the process it burned him up I think. I left before the end, he made me leave. I tried to get him to leave, he didn't need to continue, but he did anyways. Said he wanted to see the big finish or something like that, typical."  
  
"Are you okay? I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I know he meant something to you, so are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine, tired, achy, brain a bit fried, but okay overall. Sad though, we totally destroyed the mall." Angel reached over and hugged Buffy, she felt at home in his arms. It was like returning to your childhood bed where you always felt safe and warm, never doubting a single thing.  
  
"It was the soul you know, the soul that created the sunlight, that destroyed the ubervamps. His soul saved us Angel, his spark."  
  
"Destroying a city? Not bad, doesn't compare to world peace, but still very impressive." Lilah walked out of the doorway.  
  
"Do you always do that? Just show up from out of nowhere? Its kinda creepy you know." Angel released Buffy and looked at Lilah.  
  
"Well, sometimes its the only way to get noticed around here, with all the action as of late. I'm Lilah, of Wolfram and Hart, its a pleasure to meet you. You are quite famous you know. Everyone will be so jealous when they hear I got to meet not one, but both slayers."  
  
"Hi, I'm Buffy, but I get the feeling you already know that."  
  
"The senior partners were very impressed with your, ingenuity. Hell mouth destruction is a tall order, even for a slayer or two. Ever consider free lance work?"  
  
"No..." Buffy wasn't getting the bigger picture.  
  
"Oh, I should mention, Wolfram and Hart are evil, well we tend to represent evil, except in the LA branch which our little Angel here has taken over. We are so proud of the Angel Investigations crew that we had to offer them something, I mean hey, they won! They beat us, so they needed a big trophy." Lilah winked and smiled at Angel. Buffy was unnerved.  
  
"Lilah what do you want?" Angel was getting short with her. "As you can see we have other things that need to be tended to."  
  
"I have a message from the senior partners. It seems one of our seers on staff has a message for the slayer. Which now that there is hundreds of you, is kind of vague, but we think the message is for you."  
  
"Okay?" Buffy wasn't sure what to make of this.  
  
"Okay, here it is," Lilah pulled a piece of paper from her pocket," I had to write it down to make sure I got it right. 'The king of cup's picnic is long over, yet his birthday arrives today. The queen of wands will see this, but the queen of swords will sit beside his throne.'"   
  
"Uh, What?" Buffy started to laugh, thinking this woman was insane.  
  
"I've heard part of this before. A long time ago, when Spike was first turned, we were fighting, and Drusilla was talking her usual nonsense to Darla, and she said something like that. Do you have Drusilla?" Angel tried to go back through the last 100 years of memories.  
  
"What? Like the firm would let something like her slip away? Please, she might be insane, but if we keep her decently sedated and supply her with dollies and tea, she is quite well behaved. She has been a huge asset to the company."  
  
"Um... okay. So do your senior partners have any idea what that means?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Well, no. Not exactly, we think it has something to do with you and Faith, possibly a prophecy of some kind. Seers aren't known for their clarity, especially Drusilla."  
  
"'The king of cups expects a picnic, but it is not his birthday.' Thats what she said, when Spike and I were about to fight. I think she was talking about Spike."  
  
"Excuse my eavesdropping, but the scroll, the prophecies of Aberjian, they spoke of the vampire with a soul. Remember, you stole it from Wolfram and Hart a few years ago? I'm sure its around here somewhere." Wesley wandered off to dig through their piles of books and information.  
  
"Man, first he steals my thunder, now he steals my prophecy? What's next my girl?" Angel looked at Buffy, realising what he just said. "Wait, put a check next to the girl stealing as well." Angel looked deflated, defeated.  
  
"Angel stop it, come on, there is no reason to think that Spike has stolen your prophecy, or whatever, I mean you had the soul first right? Thats gotta mean something." Buffy patted him on the back.  
  
"Angel." Faith walked over and nodded at him.  
  
"Faith, long time no... wait, I guess it would be short time, no see."  
  
"Yeah, nice to see you haven't gone all 'grrr' again."  
  
"Nice to see you didn't flee to the other team."  
  
"Their benefits plan sucked. So do you got any food around here, truth be told, I'm starvin' and the girls could use some food too."  
  
"Angel, as you will soon learn, those girls over there, all they do it eat, talk and eat. That's about it." Buffy started to laugh.  
  
"Yeah, head through there, there should be some food in there, but maybe a trip to the grocery store would be a good idea." Angel pointed at a set of doors.  
  
"Cool, B, you want anything?"  
  
"A nap the size of that crater and a shower would be good."   
  
"Don't think that's in the kitchen, but I'll keep my eye out." Faith grabbed Vi and another girl and headed off for food.  
  
"You two seem to be getting along."  
  
"Yeah, we are, its sort of a sister thing, well more like a long lost twice removed second cousin thing, but we aren't hating each other. I'm gonna go check on every one."  
  
"Yeah I should go help Wesley."  
  
"I think he's got Giles with him, you know how they love their books, and Giles has been in serious withdrawl. By the way, where is Cordy? I was expecting to be warmly recieved by the princess of ice."  
  
"Oh, you don't know. Long story short, she's in a coma."  
  
"I hate it when that happens."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Buffy went over to Willow and Xander. Gunn had started to help people upstairs to find rooms to sleep in.   
  
"Hey Angel? we can send cars to get clients now can't we?"  
  
"Yeah Fred, one of the perks of the system."  
  
Angel heard Fred hang up the phone, and come out putting on her jacket. Lorne was with her.   
  
"Hey, we have to go pick up some guy who doesn't know who he is or something, but we'll be right back."  
  
"Okay be careful, streets aren't exactly safe, remember riots?"  
  
"That's why I'm going with her, I mean if this no memory guy is evil or something I can hit him and we can run." Lorne smiled and nudged Fred.  
  
"Okay, I'll see you when you get back." 


	5. Chapter 5

Angel sat behind his desk in the Hyperion's office, he felt nervous. Angel never felt nervous, at least not since Connor had been sent away. Wesley and Giles had joined him after they found the scroll. The three of them had been digging through it, looking for an explanation.   
  
"So from what we already knew, the prophecy claimed that a vampire with a soul would be repaid for his good deeds by becoming human, thus the prophecy later that he dies? Wesley why did this make so much more sense when we weren't trying to apply it to Spike?" Angel rubbed his temples.  
  
"Well yes, something which is not alive can never truely die, that was the belief of those who wrote this. A vampire is dead, with or without a soul. This only says that a vampire with a soul will be made human after he survives many obstacles."  
  
"Wesley, I care to differ. You've made a mistake in your translation." Giles interrupted Wesley.   
  
"What? I did not make a mistake! That's what it says!"  
  
"No, what is says that a vampire will endure many trials to aqcuire a soul. The rest of your translation, about this vampire becoming human and whatnot, is spot on. But that tiny flaw makes all the difference."  
  
"It was never meant for me." Angel looked down into his hands. If the disappointments kept coming at this rate he'd be walking out into the noon day sun any time now.  
  
"What Angel?" Giles asked, realizing Wesley and he were so engrossed in their discusion that they forgot he was there.  
  
"So this 'shanshu' was never meant for me was it?"  
  
"It was only natural for Wesley to interpret the scroll that way, we didn't know there was the possibility of another vampire getting a soul."  
  
"So it's not about me, right?" A tinge of anger was taking hold in Angel's voice.  
  
"No, I don't believe it is."  
  
Angel stood up so fast both Wesley and Giles didn't see it happen. Angel was out of the room even faster, with them only realizing he was gone when they heard the office door slam. Wesley shifted to stand up.  
  
"Don't Wesley, leave him be."  
  
"But Giles, I don't want him to do something stupid."  
  
"He won't, this has just changed everything for him. He thought that his curse had been placed upon him for a higher reason, and now he finds out that is the furthest thing from the truth. You wouldn't be so chipper about it yourself."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"I would like some time with the scroll. Andrew is quite good with demon languages, he may be able to help me translate this further, so we can see what this is truely about."  
  
"Well, it doesn't appear you will be leaving here anytime soon, so take all the time you want."  
  
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The cool night air was giving way to the suffocating thick of LA's daytime atmosphere. The back garden would still be dark enough for a few hours, the night blooming Jasmine was just beginning to shrink back into their shells. Angel stood on the balcony, gripping the steel with his hands, his knuckles turning white. He felt Angelus stabbing at his insides, wanting to roar, wanting to scream out to whoever could hear that the last 3 years had been a sham. The monster in him was always boiling just under the surface.   
  
He balled a hand into a fist and punched the brick wall. He vamped out. Once. Twice. His fist connected with the brick, the mortar. The brick started to crumble, on his fingers small droplets of blood started to pool.  
  
"Now I know there's a lot of 'em. But if you're gonna start needing the anger management therapy this soon into the mini-slayer invasion, we are gonna have some serious probs." Faith stood behind him. He could hear her fumbling through the pockets of her denim jacket, then he heard the shuffle of a cigarette and the familiar flip of a zippo.   
  
"Go away Faith."  
  
"Now Angel, you know it ain't that easy. I mean if you went away everytime I'd said those 3 little words, I would have already spent my last moments in a state owned electric chair."  
  
"Go away." They were the only words Angel could muster. He huddled over his bleeding hand, facing away from her, his anger still on his face, his hurt just behind his eyes.  
  
Faith stepped towards him and put her hand on his back. Angel whipped around so fast she jumped back.  
  
"Whoa Angel, calm down man. So on edge, you've really gotta chill out. Things'll be fine. We'll all be out of your well coifed hair in a few weeks. 'Til then, you can just lay low, if Spike and I could handle all those girls, surely..."  
  
"Spike, its always about Spike isn't it? There was a time when everyone wanted him to be like me, when I was important. I should have staked him when I had the chance."  
  
Faith fingered the silver zippo in her hands, it was warm from being in her jeans pocket. Angel grabbed her hand and pryed it out of her fingers.  
  
"This is his isn't it? What, did you all get mementos? Buffy screws him, Giles has a soft spot for him, and you got the lighter? If you tell me him and Xander were best friends I will seriously use this to light myself on fire."  
  
"No way man, Xan hates him." Angel tossed the lighter at her. "Whats this about Angel? I mean I know you are the dark avenger and all, but even this is a bit moody for you."  
  
"It wasn't meant for me, it never was meant for me."  
  
"What? A spot on American Idol? Summers spent in Ibiza?"  
  
"The prophecy. I will never be made human again. I will never be alive, I will always be this dead shell. This is it, this, this right here, this is my destiny."  
  
"Hey man, prophecies aren't always right. I should know, I mean, hello? I was supposed to be the 'chosen one'! Then I show up in SunnyD and B is still kickin' it, alive and well. Instead I got to be the accidentally chosen. Not high on the list of incentives."  
  
"This is different. This was my second chance, my chance to make it all right."  
  
"Everyone gets second chances man. Hell I've gotten fifth chances. You're all good and stuff, so I don't see what the problem is. I mean you aren't eating people, you help people, you defend the earth from the forces of darkness, there aren't a hell of a lot of guys who can say that."  
  
"I'm not like other guys. Faith you of all people know whats inside of me, you've been there. You know hes always right there. I thought if I could lose him for good that my life could be different."  
  
"Yeah and that's where you're wrong man. We all got badness right beneath the surface. Everytime I get super ragin', it takes all I got to not lash out and take it out on someone else. I still have it inside me, there's a part of me which would love nothing more than to go out on an old fashioned killing spree, taking whatever I want, doing what ever I want, just because I can. But I don't, and I'm human. The only difference between me and you is a pulse."  
  
"Yeah, but that makes all the difference in the world."  
  
The sun was starting to cascade down from the top of the building into the courtyard. Angel backed away from the railing and silently went back inside the hotel. Faith knew how he was feeling, she remembered it all too well. She knew it wasn't fair, but then again injustice never was. 


	6. Chapter 6

The limo pulled up outside the apartment building. William looked around, trying to determine if this was in fact his ride. He was assure that it was when the window rolled down and the head of a young brunette popped out.   
  
"William?"  
  
"Yeah, that's me, I think."  
  
The door opened, and William went in and sat down. He sat next to the brunette, and across from a strangely green man.  
  
"Hi! I'm Fred, over there is Lorne." The brunette introduced herself and the man with the green skin raised a glass with ice in it to aknowledge his name.   
  
"So, I hear you are having some memory problems?" Lorne asked. His voice was jovial, almost musical.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I don't remember anything past this morning, well with exception to this girl, and I can't get her out of my head. I think I might have even hallucinated her on my way to LA."  
  
"Hmm.. Interesting. Do you sing?"   
  
"What? Do I sing? I don't understand."  
  
"Lorne is sorta psychic, he can read your soul if you sing. Something about people baring their souls when they sing, it helps him see inside of you." Fred explained.  
  
"Uh huh. Well, I'm not sure what I could sing for you or whatever, but if you think it might help I could give it a try." William was uncomfortable. He was sitting in a limo with an adorable brunette and a psychic green man. If they dealt with the green guy, surely his problems would be no trouble.  
  
"It's okay sugar, we have other things we can try first." Lorne winked at him.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
When they arrived at the Hyperion the lobby was empty. Fred showed William to a room, and told him to sit tight. They would be back in a few hours with some ideas on how to help him. She then went back downstairs.  
  
"Fred, there's a problem with our well cheekboned friend upstairs." Lorne sat on the sofa with her.  
  
"Yeah, he is lost, he need help."  
  
"No. He didn't need to sing for me to see these things in him."  
  
"Things? Like what?"  
  
"Like Angelus, Buffy, mayhem, pain, suffering, love, forgiveness, power, Fred he's an open book, and the story he's tellin' is a bit on the familiar."  
  
"Oh my god. Should we tell Angel?"  
  
"I don't think that would be a good idea, Angel's sorta in a bad place right now." Faith walked in from the balcony, the faint smell of cigarettes followed her in.  
  
"Faith, I think we might need your help. The guy we picked up, well, we think he might have a history with Angel and Buffy. Could you go up and talk to him, maybe he'll be familiar, or maybe he'll recognize you or something."  
  
"Whoa there, My history with the two of them is shorter than you think. Most of my time with B and Angel was spent in a coma or behind bars. I don't know their history, why don't you have Willow do it?"  
  
"Willow is still pretty drained, she needs to recharge." Fred responded. "Could you just try? We're going to go talk to Wesley and Giles and see what they think, but it would be helpful if someone else could talk to them about him too."  
  
"Yeah fine, whatever. What room is he in?"  
  
"Thanks Faith, you're a peach! He's in room 217." Lorne stood up to embrace Faith.  
  
"Yo man, I don't hug." Faith pushed past him and up the stairs.  
  
"Faith, just one more thing," Lorne stopped her, "be careful, I saw danger and violence in him, it might be from the past, but he could be a bomb just waiting to go off."  
  
"Once, I would like to be sent to talk to someone who isn't dangerous!"  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Faith knocked on the door 3 times before he responded.  
  
"Who is it?" a small voice asked from inside. Faith thought it sounded familiar.  
  
"Yo, its room service. Lorne and Fred sent me up to talk to you a bit while they work things out. You know keep you company or somethin'." Faith responded.  
  
She heard the door lock snap, and soon afterwards the door opened. She gasped when she saw his face. "Holy Shit." Faith pushed her way into the room, and quickly shut the door.  
  
"Oh fuck, they're gonna freak out. They're gonna totally freak the hell out."   
  
"What? Excuse me, I'm not understanding." William was even more confused than before.  
  
"Yo, Spike, it's cool. Fred and Lorne didn't know who you were. Yeah, the hair's different, and someone seriously helped you commit fashion suicide, but I can tell its you."  
  
William sat on the bed. "Spike? Who's Spike?" The word felt familiar on his tongue as if he had spoken it a thousand times, but still it held no meaning.  
  
"You, you're Spike. You can stop messin' with me, this is Faith you're talking to. You know, 'ride you til you pop like warm champagne,' Faith."  
  
"So I know you? We're like lovers or something?"  
  
"Yeah I know you freak! And although we spent a lot of time around chains in a small dark space, no you were a bit wrapped up in someone else. You don't recognize me?"  
  
"No, not really. I don't remember much. Things seem familiar, but they have no real meaning."  
  
Faith stood up and walked to the window, she opened the curtain and window. She sat on the pane and lit a cigarette. When the sun glinted off of the chrome lighter she realised what she did. She looked over at the bed, to see William sitting in a beam of sunlight.  
  
"Whoa, that's new. You're not all flamey, and I'm not talkin' in a gay way."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I mean, the last time I saw you that beam of light was like a weapon of your personal mass destruction, and now its not." Faith walked over and put her hand to his neck. "Holy shit, you have a pulse."  
  
"Why? Should I not have a pulse? Am I dead?"  
  
"You were, now I'm not sure what you are. I mean you look like Spike, and sound like him but he wasn't like this."  
  
The lighter fell out of Faith's jacket pocket. William bent over to pick it up. When he closed his hand on the lighter a jolt went through him. His hands went to his head as a defense against the agonizing pain. Women in high buttoned collars, horse drawn carriages, smoky jazz clubs, delapidated factories, hippies, punk rock shows, subways and cars. Faces, women, men, terribly disfigured men and women, people with ridges on their foreheads, the girl who had been in the room, a red head, and finally her, the green eyed blonde. As the images passed through him he heard voices, "Miss Edith has been naughty!" "Shut up roller boy." "Our Spikey's killed himself a slayer!" "They'll be no 'having' of any kind with me!" "She really is just kind of fickle." "You think we're dancing?" "William the Bloody with a chip in his head, I kinda love this town." "You're beneath me." "I think I was in heaven." "Spike, I'm only doing this because I'm drunk, and you smell really good." "Spike, I love you." He yelled out "BLOODY HELL!" then everything went black, he passed out.  
  
Faith picked the lighter up off the floor and ran out of the room. She didn't know what had just happened, but she needed to find someone who could sort this out. Something here just wasn't right. 


	7. Chapter 7

"Buffy, are you up?"  
  
"Yeah, I can't believe it, I mean I should be half-way to Sleepyville, but I just can't sleep."  
  
"I know the feeling, since I passed out on the bus I haven't been able to sleep either."   
  
"Are the others asleep?"  
  
"Nah, I can hear Andrew and Xander through my walls. Kennedy is asleep, Faith is downstairs, the rest of the girls are on another floor so I don't know how they are." Willow sat down on the bed, Buffy sat up.  
  
"So how wierd is this? We don't have homes anymore, all our stuff is gone, everything. I mean my mother's grave is gone, sucked into the earth, I can't even visit her grave."  
  
"Yeah, Anya and the girls don't even have proper burials, Spike either, its so wierd. I mean we have buried a lot of people over the years, and staked a couple on their way out, but to think all of that is gone is so... so morbid actually."   
  
"I wonder if the ground is stable enough?"  
  
"We are not going in there to collect the bodies, I mean they have a stink factor of about 2 days before it'll be vomit city."  
  
"No, I was actually thinking about the mall, all those free shoes, just sitting there, waiting for us to rescue them." Buffy and Willow laughed.  
  
They just sat there thinking about the last 24 hours. Suddenly they heard a door slam and someone running down the hall. Willow got up and looked out the door to see Faith heading for the stairs.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"I dunno, Faith looks like she just saw a ghost. I mean she's all pale and breath-y. You know Faith's kinda hot for a homicidal maniac."  
  
"Willow..."  
  
"No, brain must leave naughty place and return to here. Yeah she just ran out of room 217 and headed for the stairs. I don't really know what's up."  
  
"217? Faith's room is next door, she's not staying in the room."  
  
"Is Wood..."  
  
"Nope he's upstairs."  
  
"Wierd."  
  
"Definately."  
  
Willow and Buffy went back into the room and sat on the big comfy chairs. They just wanted to be with each other, somehow each knew that the only one who understood that was the other.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
"Where is Giles and Wesley?" Faith shouted from the top of the stairs.   
  
"Whoa calm down there toots. You look like you've seen a ghost!" Lorne stood up as she fled down the stairs.  
  
"Yo, you don't even know how right you are. Where are they?"  
  
"We're right here." Giles and Wesley stood behind the counter.  
  
"Is something the matter Faith? Is Robin alright?" Giles asked.  
  
"He's alive!"  
  
"Yes, I would hope he is."  
  
"Not Wood! Spike!"  
  
"Bloody hell, have you been talking with Buffy?"  
  
"Giles, I'm not crazy!"  
  
"We sent her up to talk to the guy we told you about. You know amnesia boy." Fred sat on the lobby counter.  
  
"Fred, where did he say he was from?" Wesley was starting to make the connection.  
  
"He wasn't sure, he sounds British, like you two, but he didn't know where he was from. He said something about crawling out of a crater in the desert, but..."  
  
"Oh dear god." Giles put his hand to the bridge of his nose, even though the glasses were gone, the habit was hard to break. "Faith, tell me what I think is happening hasn't happened."  
  
"Giles, I don't know! He's alive! I mean like, has a pulse, breathes oxygen, doesn't consume a red colored liquid diet sort of alive. It looks like him, but its wierd, he doesn't act like Spike, he doesn't even talk like Spike."  
  
"Could it just be someone with a striking resemblance? We have had experiences with Dopplegangers before." Wesley walked out from the counter, "This could all be a case of mistaken identity."  
  
"I don't think it is. See I have Spike's lighter, he forgot that he borrowed it to me so I could catch a smoke before battle. I dropped it in the room, and dude picked it up and freaked out! He went all wierd, and then screamed out like Spike. Then he passed out. I ran cos I wasn't sure what to do."  
  
"You didn't tell..." Giles was leading.  
  
"Hell no! B was in her room and Angel is all manic depressed 2 floors up, they have no idea."  
  
"Dear god. Is he alright?" Wesley looked concerned.  
  
"Beats me, I booked outta there to come tell you. He didn't spaz out or anything, there was no need for a spoon, he just sorta blacked out on the bed."  
  
"Did he give you all a name that he is going by?"  
  
"Yeah, Willy or William or something along those lines. Funny though, he didn't strike me as the Bill type." Lorne straightened his funny plaid jacket and sat back down.  
  
"William the Bloody."  
  
"Great he's bloody? He's gonna kill us, should we be arming ourselves?" Fred looked surprised at the thought.  
  
"No, it was a nickname he got before he was turned."  
  
"It's about the poetry. The awful awful poetry." A voice joined them from behind.  
  
"Angel?"  
  
"I could smell him. The minute he crossed the door I could smell him. But its different now. Sweeter, saltier, he smells like blood. I remember Drusilla smelling like that the night she took him."  
  
"Angel..."  
  
"He smells like life. First it was the smell, but then it was the heartbeat. I could hear it, you know? Two floors below me, pounding like a drum, like an ancient drum." Angel looked out of it, blank, as if he didn't realise there were others around him.  
  
"Angel, we can take care of this, why don't you get some rest?" Wesley wanted to keep Angel out of this until they were sure.  
  
"No, it's the prophecy you know. He's been rewarded."  
  
"Wait, yo. What prophecy? Angel you are all about this prophecy, what's the deal?" Faith demanded.  
  
"Wes, you explain it." Angel said as he collapsed into a lobby chair.  
  
"Well, there's a prophecy about a vampire with a soul, who is rewarded for all the good he has done. The Powers reward him with a human life, so he can relive his life, so he can ultimately die, and his soul can be at peace."  
  
Giles continued, "Originally Wesley thought it was about Angel, but we think it may have been about Spike."   
  
"Heavy. So does it mention whether the human knows what happened? Does it talk about what the human's role is after he returns? Does it have anything else? I mean we can't lay this on B without an explanation."  
  
"That's it! You are a genius!" Lorne announced, "That's the girl, its Buffy! I saw Angel and Buffy in him, but he keeps talking about a girl, the only thing he remembers is this girl, its got to be Buffy right?"  
  
"Perhaps, but Lorne he has been through so much."  
  
"Wesley, its all still in there!"  
  
"Lorne read him, he could see all these situations and people and stuff in him." Fred said, "That's why we sent Faith up to talk to him, to see if he remembered her."  
  
"So wait, all his memories are in there? You could see them? What about his destiny? You read destinies not pasts."  
  
"That's where things got wierd, his destiny is shut off, all I saw was the past."  
  
"Without your past you have no future. You have to know your history to know where you are headed." Angel silently said. "He needs to know who he is in order to move forward."  
  
"Who needs to know their past to know their future?"  
  
"Willow... hi, um how long have you been standing there? How much have you heard?" Wesley looked at Willow, standing at the foot of the great staircase. He then looked around at everyone else, realising the secret wouldn't last long.  
  
"Beats me but they sure have been worried about him." Gunn walked out from the balcony. He looked defensive, mad that he was left out of things.  
  
"We think we may have a situation we were not anticipating, you two might want to sit down." Giles motioned to some chairs. Willow and Gunn sat, looking confused. "Well, perhaps we should start from the beginning..." 


	8. Chapter 8

After Wesley, Giles and Angel finished the story, everyone fell silent as if they couldn't believe what they just heard.  
  
"Angel said that Wolfram & Hart gave him that pendant Spike was wearing. Maybe they have some files or something on it, maybe it has something to do with the pendant." Willow was already trying to find the solution.  
  
"We are Wolfram & Hart. After Angel got back we tried to research it in their files, everything they knew about it was in the folder, and that wasn't much outside of the whole 'worn by a champion' sort of thing." Gunn said.  
  
"Well do you know where they got it from?"  
  
"Supposedly it was taken from a mausoleum about 100 years ago, then it sat in storage."   
  
"Why does everything have to come off of a dead body? I mean thats just morose." Willow was visibly grossed out.  
  
"That's it! Did it say where the mausoleum was or who's grave it was taken from?" Giles inner lightbulb went off.  
  
"Why? Maybe it was just a guy with a flair for fashion!" Lorne laughed.  
  
"Maybe this isn't the first time this has happened. Maybe that pendant, that jewel brought someone else back in the past. Fred, Gunn see if you can find anything out about the original owner, or at least the last owner, I am sure there is a file on it somewhere."  
  
"It's a menage trois, you, me and file cabinets." Gunn looked at Fred.  
  
"Eww. Thanks for the visual Gunn." Fred stood up and headed out the door with Gunn, assumably headed to W&H.  
  
"Angel, do you have any magick books around? Maybe I can find a memory recovery spell, a spell to help him find his past."  
  
"Willow are you?" Giles started.  
  
"Giles, I'm fine, I can control myself."  
  
"Come on cupcake, I'll show you to our personal collection of absolutely fabulous magick books." Lorne took her hand and they headed for the office.  
  
"Someone should check on him. When I left he wasn't exactly conscious." Faith apprehensively spoke.  
  
"I don't think its a good idea to send Faith back in, she might frighten him even more." Wesley started  
  
"I'll go."  
  
"Do you really think that's a good idea considering..."  
  
"Considering I had my personal parade downpoured on today? Wes, thanks, but I think I can handle this, and I'd like to see this for myself." Angel stood up and headed towards the staircase.  
  
"Be careful Angel, we don't know everything about him and why or how he is here."  
  
"Its fine, really. I mean even if the First brought him back, its not like I don't know what that feels like." Angel smiled and walked off.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
The door was unlocked when Angel went to enter. He had gone upstairs and grabbed some of Wesley's clothes, if only to get the poor man out of the psychedelic tee-shirt he was wearing. When he entered the room, he noticed that the shade and drapes had been drawn tightly so the room was near black even in the early day. He flipped the light switch only to find a curled human form on the bed, the bed clothes hadn't even been moved.  
  
He set the clothes on a chair and walked near the figure. The heartbeat was deafening, he could see the body rhythmicly moving with each breath, up, down, up, down.   
  
He felt childish. Around Spike he had always felt childish, the way they bantered like young boys in a school yard. Fighting over girls, trying to show each other up, it was their thing, what they did. Angel had always felt threatened by Spike somehow. Drusilla was crazy, but Angel knew that when she chose Spike, she had done so for reasons he could never understand. Darla always thought Dru picked the first idiot that passed them, but now, Angel was sure Dru knew what she was doing. She had picked a champion, the bravest knight in all the land.  
  
It had only been the icing on the jealousy cake to hear about Spike and Buffy being together. Apparently Angel couldn't have anything to himself. He had always done it first, but Spike always seemed to do it better. Hell, Spike could be the man Buffy needed, supporting her, being with her, loving her. That was just something Angel could never offer her, no matter how much time passed. Not now at least.   
  
He couldn't help but wonder if things would have turned out this way had he stayed in Sunnydale. Maybe this had just been destiny, maybe no matter what he did or didn't do, didn't matter. Maybe this was all preordained, perhaps the Powers had given Angel that bit of hope when he needed it most, even though they knew it wasn't for him.   
  
William. Spike. Whoever rolled over and laid on his back. Only then did Angel notice the pendant still around his neck. The previously dead stone was now flickering with light, the clear stone had given way to a dancing fire of color. The body's hand opened to reveal a square burn, it was similar to the zippo Faith said he had held. The wound was healing before Angel's eyes. He knew that Spike wasn't fully human, he was imbued with some sort of healing power. Angel wondered if Spike could heal his heart. 


	9. Chapter 9

It had been hours since Faith discovered the secret of their guest. Little more had been discovered. Gunn & Fred returned from Wolfram & Hart with bad news, the Mausoleum had been in Sunnydale, and Sunnydale was gone. There had been very little information on the owner, but that wasn't much of a surprise.  
  
Angel had been upstairs for a long time. Giles & Wesley were becoming concerned that something had happened, but they couldn't be bothered with it, as Buffy & some of the potentials came downstairs, and they couldn't know yet. Giles couldn't get Buffy's hopes up only to destroy them.  
  
"Buffy, I think, the potentials should go back to their homes, even if its only temporary. Give them some time off. We can get their contact information, and send them off for a while." Giles and Buffy had been trying to determine the fate of the flock of slayers.  
  
"Giles, they aren't potentials any more, they are full fledged grade-A all American slayers, well except for the ones who aren't Americans. But yeah, I think it'd be a good idea to get rid of them, I mean for them to have some time off before training begins again."  
  
"It will give us time to find watchers, those who we don't have watchers for will come back here under our guidance."  
  
"Yeah that sounds good. So what's going on here?"  
  
Giles was stunned, "W-what do you mean what's going on?"  
  
"Well I mean Willow and the green guy are all milling over the books, but won't tell me why, Faith is sketchier than usual, and Angel's all MIA, somehting is totally going on and I didn't need my spider senses to tell me that."  
  
"You have spent far too much time with Andrew."  
  
"Stop changing the subject."  
  
"We are trying to find out information on Spike's amulet. It seems that there may be more to it than we thought, but we have run into a wall, as the place it was aquired from is currently a large crater in the desert."  
  
"It was from Sunnydale? Wait, of course, everything is buried in Sunnydale, or was at least. But what kind of 'more to it' are you talking about? Is it evil? Cos there is no way its evil."  
  
"No, no, nothing like that. We were trying to find out where it came from and what its purpose was, besides the hell mouth sealing qualities."  
  
"Oh. Okay. I was thinking of looking up my dad, and stopping by to say hello to his dead-beat ass."  
  
"That sounds good. Are you sure you're up for it already?"  
  
"Giles, what, do you think I'm going to sit in this hotel all day? This is my first day of freedom, I'd like to spend it shopping, but a daughter's duty is never done. I'm gonna grab Dawn and go, Wes said one of the company cars could take us. How cool is that? Company cars! It sounds so important!"  
  
Buffy bounded up the stairs, and a few minutes came back down with Dawn in-tow. Giles waved them off, relieved that he hadn't blown their cover.

* * *

Willow had found a spell, a very simple memory recovery spell. It was not guaranteed to work in all situations, but it had ties to the mystic loss of memory, which both her and Lorne agreed might apply here. 

"Why are these spells always in German? I mean are the Germans exceptionally forgetful?"

"Darlin' it beats me. The only German I know is 'Danke Schoen' and that's thanks to the great Wayne Newton."

"Nice. Okay do we have everything we need?"

"Two yellow candles, check. Lemon Balm, mmm smells good, check. Anise Star and Agrimony, check. Pleghm inducing German incantation, check. I think we're good to go."

Lorne handed all the items to Willow. She knew what she had to do. She went upstairs to the room, the door was unlocked. Angel was asleep in a chair. She jumped when she looked over to the bed to see a sleeping Spike, or was he Spike? She wasn't sure, yes, his well defined cheekbones were there, his blue eyes, but he seemed softer. It was then she noticed him breathing, it gave her the wiggins.

"Angel" Willow whispered and poked him. "Angel."

"But 'Mandy's' a really good song!" Angel blurted out just as he awoke. "Sorry, I must have fallen asleep."

Willow tried to contain her giggles, "Who's Mandy, and why do you refer to her as a song?"

"Long, unimportant story. You've never heard of 'Mandy?' Wow, I really _am_ old."

"This just occured to you?"

"Never mind, what's up Willow?"

Willow held up the items, "Found a spell, I'm going to see if it works."

"Oh, okay, do you need any help?"

"Nope, I can handle it. Wow it's so creepy, I mean look at him."

"Willow there is no need to fear the tie-dye."

"Not his shirt, him. I mean whoa, holy Spike!"

"Yeah I know. Well maybe you'll bring old Spikey back into the mix; I don't think any of us can be around him without the similarities bothering us. I can't even believe I want you to bring him back."

"I'm not bringing anyone back anymore! I mean, I'm just having his memories returned, thats it, no bringing back of any sort."

"I should probably let you get started. I'll be right outside if you need anything, or if he goes zombie and tries to eat your brain."

"Zombies don't... Nevermind, thanks, I'll turn evil if I need you."

Angel gave Willow a puzzled look and left. Willow set out the candles. She lit them using the zippo Faith had aquired, she needed an object from the memory bearer to help bring the memories back, the zippo was going to be her memory magnet. She picked up the other ingredients, and began chanting:

_Gesegnet seien Sie, mystische Kräfte des Nordens, Süd, des Ostens und des West, bringen Sie das gestohlene Gedächtnis, hervor und bringen Sie es zu ihm Behälter zurück._ Light Anise Star and drop into bowl.

_Gesegnet seien Sie, mystische Kräfte des Nordens, Süd, des Ostens und des West, bringen Sie das gestohlene Gedächtnis, hervor und bringen Sie es zu ihm Behälter zurück. _Light Lemon Balm, drop into bowl on top of Anise Star.

_Gesegnet seien Sie, mystische Kräfte des Nordens, Süd, des Ostens und des West, bringen Sie das gestohlene Gedächtnis, hervor und bringen Sie es zu ihm Behälter zurück._ Drop Agrimony, pick up candles, drip wax onto burned herbs.

As the wax dripped onto the herbs the lighter levitated, Willow's head flew backwards as whisps of energy gathered around the lighter. "Rückkehr!" As she yelled the final word, the lighter fell into her hands, the ball of light flew at the Spike-like figure, he still slept but the light broke to a fog, which he inhaled through his nose, when all the fog was gone, both candles went out.

Willow was panting, exhausted. She raised her hand "Luce!" the lights in the room turned on. On the bed was the man she had cast the memories upon. He was awake, and curled up in a ball, shaking at the head of the bed.

"Spike?" Willow stood up, dizzy, and moved towards the bed. The figure looked at her, and she could see recognition in his eyes. "Spike? William? It's okay, you're safe, it's me, Willow. Do you remember?"

"Where am I?" The familiar voice and accent came out of his mouth.

"You're in L.A., at Angel's hotel."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Doing what? Spike, what are we doing to you?"

"You aren't real, this isn't real. I'm not daft. Why can't you just leave me be?"

"Spike, its okay, you're back, I don't know where you were, but you aren't there anymore."

Spike laughed, "Oh, yeah, like I'm going to fall for that bit again!"

Willow walked over and grabbed his hand. "You're alive. Can't you feel that?" She placed his hand over his heart, she could feel the blood pumping thorugh his veins, it was strange to have Spike feel warm.

Spike's face turned to awe, "But, how? Why? What's going on? I don't understand." Tears formed in his eyes, as he raised his hand to his neck, feeling the pulse steady beneath his skin.

He stood up and walked over to the dresser, just above it was a mirror. 

"Bloody Hell! Why didn't the lot of you tell me I looked this awful?" He laughed, touching the mirror.

"One last thing I've left to do." He walked over to the curtains and opened them, soaking up the sunlight, now pouring through into the room. He crumpled to the floor. Willow rushed over.

Spike was weeping, Willow put her arm around him, trying to understand, knowing she never could.

"This isn't real, this isn't real." He was rocking in her arms.

From the doorway came an unfamiliar voice. "Oh Baby, it doesn't get more real than this." 


	10. Chapter 10

"Buffy, we aren't going to see dad are we?" Dawn was practically running to keep up with her sister.   
  
"No, dad's like as far away from us as possible, like Russia. Wait, is there anything further away than Russia?" Buffy stopped to let her little sister catch up.  
  
"From here? You might want to try Spain, or England, they are way further than Russia."  
  
"Whatever, no Dawn, we aren't going to see dad, we're going to buy shoes. New shoes, cos we saved the world, and are entitled to shoes."  
  
"Uh, okay. What's the real reason we're out here?"   
  
"Shoes! Do I need to spell it out, or give you a definition?"   
  
"Buffy, I'm your sister, I know you, something is bothering you."   
  
The girls sat down on a bench in the park they were cutting through.   
  
"Oh Dawn, its so many tihngs. I feel like everyone is keeping something from me, I feel guilty that Spike & Anya had to die, not to mention all the girls we lost. I'm lost again. I mean before I felt lost cos I was all alone, now I feel lost because I'm not alone, but in a way I still am. Does that make sense?"  
  
"Yeah, I get that. Did you get any sleep?"   
  
"Nightmares. Well not so much nightmares, as reliving what happened. It just kept repeating over and over again, and sometimes I could save him, sometimes we burned up together, sometimes I let Angel die, god those were the worst of all of them. But in some of them he would look up at me with those big blue eyes, and not say a word, but I knew he was okay, like he was in heaven, at peace, like I once was."   
  
"I already miss him too, as much as I gave him crap, I did like Spike, he was a good person."   
  
"Yeah, that's why it hurts so much. He gave me the courage and the strength to finish the hell mouth off, and what's his reward? Death. See Dawn, death really is my gift."   
  
"No, its not like that, he chose to be there, just like the rest of us.We all knew we might die, but we didn't care, we knew we had to do it."  
  
"It's just sick because two of the only people who really enjoyed this life, are dead."   
  
"Well I guess life and death aren't fair." Dawn reached out and held Buffy's hand, squeezing it, letting her sister know she understood.   
  
"Dawn, I screwed up." Buffy's eyes started to well up with tears, tears she didn't think she still had, "I told him the truth, but it was too late, and he didn't trust it." She started crying, Dawn held her, and stroked her hair, soothing her. The two of them sat there like that for a while, waiting for life to begin again.  
  


* * *

  
"What's taking so long? This shouldn't be taking this long, should it?" Fred was pacing back and forth across the foyer.   
  
"I don't know, all this magic and stuff, if you asked me, if there isn't a way to fix it by kicking the crap out of something, maybe it ain't broke." Gunn laughed.   
  
"You're not funny." Faith rolled her eyes.   
  
Willow and Spike came down the stairs.   
  
"And now for my next trick, the great Willini will make bunnies come out of your ears!"  
  
"She can do that?" Gunn looked at Faith.   
  
"No silly, I'm just saying, tada! It worked! And I didn't go evil or anything!"   
  
Angel followed behind them, accompanied by an unfamiliar man. Angel seemed to know him, and they were silently chatting.  
  
"So who's the new face?" Faith sat up straight, looking defensive.   
  
"Whoa pussycat, calm down, I'm not here to rattle your cage doors."   
  
"What?"   
  
"Guys, this is Whistler. He's an old friend of mine."  
  
"Does he whistle?" Lorne asked.  
  
"Strangely, I've never mastered the skill." Whistler sat on one of the chairs. Still dressed like a brat pack reject, Angel wondered if some demons were just trapped in an era.  
  
Willow and Spike sat on one of the couches, "So do you want to run that by me again mate?" Spike asked.  
  
"Alright, see I got this gig, I work for The Powers. They send me out when something big needs to be taken care of."  
  
"Not that part."  
  
"Oh, right. See Spike here has been chosen. Actually you were chosen a long time ago, but thats besides the point. Every once in a while The Powers can collectively impact the human dimension, either through taking advantage of a situation that presents itself, or through fulfilling prophecies. Angel here, well he was an advantageous situation waiting to happen, so The Powers chose him as a champion. Spike here, was sort of the same thing. See man, like the last 4 years of your unlife, were directed in a sense by a mix of prophecy and taking advantages of your weaknesses. Few vampires retain the ability to love, actually the statistics are amazing on this, but I digress. Your capacity made you an ideal candidate, and they had been watching you since the beginning, deciding when you would be needed most." Whistler shifted in the chair, "The thing with the first evil, well we didn't see it coming. Then again we didn't see Sabrina over here finding an urn of Osiris on eBay. The Powers aren't perfect."  
  
"Great, again with this being my fault!" Willow looked visibly disraught.  
  
"No honey, its only part of what you did. The rest was his fault." He pointed at Spike.  
  
"So did we bring me back as a scapegoat then? Is that what this is, bloody figures."   
  
"No, bringing back Buffy, sweet girl by the way, she set events in motion, most notably pushing blondie over there to get a soul. That's where the disbalance happened. He tilted the scales of good and evil. Evil got mad, and well we all know the outcome."   
  
"But I thought you had chosen him for something."   
  
"Oh, we did, but we thought it was further in the future, we weren't expecting him to take things into his hands so quickly, again it's Sabrina's fault that Buffy came back."   
  
"Her name is Willow you stupid bint."   
  
"Right, Willow, sort of pushed the envelope. But then the whole Jasmine thing happened here in L.A. and well the Powers got sidetracked, and the Chosen one accidentally got killed. The Chosen one being Spike. They did see that coming, and so had the amulet transfered to Angel's possession, believing Angel would bear it, and Spike would survive."   
  
"Great, as if my week hasn't been bad enough, now you're telling me the Powers planned on me dying?" Angel's defenses were on high alert.   
  
"Calm down Peaches, I'm sure they'd have brought you back like they did me."   
  
"Yeah, that was the plan." Whistler covered the fact that this was farthest from the truth. "So Spike dies, and the Powers still need him, thus they bring him back, and set things into motion to get him here. Did you really think that car had come from Sunnydale's direction? The Powers, well they made sure you got the ride you needed."   
  
"But the amulet came from Wolfram & Hart." Fred said.   
  
"The Powers have stock in Wolfram & Hart, they pulled some strings."  
  
"But Wolfran & Hart are evil, the Powers aren't evil."  
  
"No they aren't evil, but hey, keep your friends close, your enemies closer right?"  
  
"But why is he human?" Willow asked.   
  
"He isn't." Angel announced.   
  
"You just can't stand that maybe I was chosen for something can you?" Spike was getting angry.  
  
"No, I saw your hand heal, right in front of my eyes, you burned it on your lighter, but it healed in minutes."  
  
"He's not human, but not demon either. He's more human than not, but the Powers wanted insurance that he would be able to carry on, so they juiced him up a bit."  
  
"So I suppose I have a mission or something? That's what you still need to explain, I'd like to know what I didn't sign up for."   
  
"No mission, just a job. The connection between the Powers and their Champion have been severed. We knew eventually this would happen, and so they chose someone who already knew the champion, but who was a bit stronger to carry her burden."  
  
"Brilliant, I'm a sodding pack mule. Who's the Champion?"   
  
"Well it's Angel of course."   
  
"But you were counting on him dying!"  
  
"Not necessarily, its complicated, as situations change destiny's get readjusted, the Powers like to roll with the punches. Cordelia was only a temporary situation, as her powers were passed to her accidentally by Doyle, so her destiny was readjusted."   
  
"It sounds like a sick game of Risk." Fred said under her breath.   
  
"You planned on this happening to her?" Angel was mad.  
  
"Hey! Don't kill the messenger! She's human, we did our best to pump her up to make her be able to tolerate the visions, hell we made her a higher power! But she was corrupted, as most humans are. Eventually she would have died, this is actually good for her, if she wakes up, she'll be a normal human again."   
  
"But the scroll of Aberjian states that the vampire with a soul will die, we assumed it meant he had to be made human to do so."   
  
"He will die, he's not unkillable, he just has healing qualities that should he get injured or knocked into a coma, he'll recover in a fraction of the time it takes for a human. He'll age, and die, just not as fast as a human would. Again, the Powers have a thing about insuring their investment."   
  
"What if I don't want to do this?"   
  
"Then we'll send you back to the pits of Hell, you didn't think they sent creatures like you to heavenly dimensions just because you got a soul?"   
  
Both Angel and Spike sighed in resignation.   
  
"Who's going to hell? I swear I leave for 5 minutes and already there's more talk of hell." Xander and Andrew walked down the stairs into the foyer. "What? Wait, um, he's not supposed to be here!" As the color drained from his face, Xander pointed at Spike.  
  
"Holy Bloomin' Onions Batman!" Andrew ran across the room and threw himself at Spike.  
  
"Bloody hell, get off me you wanker!" Spike pushed the boy off of him.  
  
"Spike! I knew you weren't dead! Wow, this is so cool. This reminds me of issue number 15 of..." Andrew began.  
  
"Shut up Andrew!" Willow and Xander yelled in unison.  
  
Xander fell into a chair. "Where is Buffy?"  
  
"B doesn't exactly know yet. Her and Dawn are out seeing their Pop or something." Faith explained.  
  
"The Bit made it?" Spike asked.  
  
"Yeah, she's fine." Willow said.   
  
"Where's Anya, she'd get a real kick out of this."  
  
"Anya's dead." Xander looked down as he said it.  
  
"She saved my life!" Andrew gushed.   
  
"Well for what its worth, she was one hell of a woman."   
  
"From you, its not worth much, but thanks." Xander glared at Spike. "So what's the deal here?"   
  
The group filled Xander and Andrew in on what had happened, and that Spike had been returned to them by the Powers to carry Cordelia's visions. Then Whistler left, promising to return when he knew more. Afterwards, they ate some lunch. Giles and Wesley made arrangements for the new Slayers to return to their homes for a month. Kennedy objected, but eventually decided it would be nice to see her parents and maybe head down to the Hamptons for a week or two. Some of the girls even caught buses that afternoon. By mid-afternoon the lobby of the hotel was empty, most of the prior occupants having finally lost all energy and resigning themselves to sleep, or at least trying to absorb the afternoons events. By the time Buffy and Dawn returned, shopping bags in one hand, iced mochas in the other, the place seemed near abandoned. Dawn headed up to her room, Buffy did the same, both of them needed a nap themselves.   
  
Afternoon faded to night, and the hotel was still and silent, but things wouldn't remain this way forever.   



	11. Chapter 11

AN: I hate, okay I don't hate, but I've trying to avoid putting songs at the beginnings of my chapters for this story. I have to make an exception on this chapter, cos I heard this song the other day, and it completely inspired portions of this chapter, so forgive my weakness. (portions of the song have been removed for space considerations) ;)

It felt like springtime on this February morning  
In the courtyard birds were singing your name  
I'm still recalling things you said to make me feel  
Alright, I carried them with me today now  
As I lay me down to sleep, This I pray  
That you will hold me dear, though I'm far away  
I'll whisper your name, into the sky, and I will wake up happy.  
I wonder why, I feel so high though I am not above the sorrow.  
Heavy hearted 'til you call my name.  
And it sounds like church bells or the whistle of a train,  
On a summer evening I'll run to meet you barefoot, barely breathing  
It's not too near for me, like a flower I need the rain.  
Though it's not clear to me, every season has its change.  
And I will see you, when the sun comes out again.  
As I lay me down to sleep, this I pray  
That you will hold me dear, though I'm far away  
I will whisper your name, into the sky  
And I will wake up happy. -Sopie B. Hawkins 'As I Lay'

* * *

When Buffy awoke, the hotel was dark and silent. The past few days had really taken their toll on the group, and she knew they would need at least a week to recover and regroup. She went in the kitchen and got a glass of water. She then wandered out to the small garden out back. 

She had forgotten LA. She had lived here for almost 16 years, 16 years that seemed eons ago. She forgot that it stank, was loud, and that even on the clearest of nights she could barely see the stars, if not for the smog, for the bright lights of the city obscuring her view. Tonight was quiet though, something she didn't think she would find. The garden had since come back to life, the jasmine blooming and filling the air with a dreamy scent. Buffy wondered if all of this was really happening. 

It was almost like after she was brought back. It felt as though part of her wasn't really here. It was so easy to get lost in her thoughts, that when she felt life going on around her, she almost felt alien. It had barely been 2 days and already life was moving on. She knew it was going on, but it didn't feel that way for her. She was confused, and lonely. 

Her confidant was gone. The one person she thought she would always be able to rely on, even when she was old and wrinkly, she thought he would still be there. But now he wouldn't be, and it hurt. It felt like someone had ripped pieces of her heart out, not the same pieces that went missing when she had to kill Angel, no these pieces were smaler, but deeper, and there were many more missing. These parts were empty, she realised before they were filled with him, but now they were empty, and without him, they would never be refilled.

She laid down on one of the benches, letting her hair fall towards the earth, directing her thoughts at the stars above her. She thought back, and how quickly things could change. One minute her mom was there, the next she was gone. One minute she was there, then gone, then back again. Even he had left, but he came back. This time he wouldn't be coming back. 

"I'm sorry William, Spike, whatever. I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm sorry." Buffy started talking out loud. "I know I should have done things differently, not just in the school, long before that. I just figured we would have more time, that this wouldn't happen so soon. At the end there things were getting so good. I was finally ready to let it out, I had it all planned out. We would close the hellmouth, and all ride off into the sunset, well, maybe not the sunset, cos you know, dusty, but we were going to get out of there together. Then we were gonna start over, fresh-like. We all have a chance to start over, and I was counting on that. I was counting on you having that chance." Buffy shifted, the bench wasn't comfortable. Her eyes had once again begun to tear up, and the faint glimmer of stars was mingling all together into a teary blur. She was so concentrated on this moment that she didn't realise she wasn't alone.

"I do love you. I hope wherever you are that you know that. I wasn't just saying it cos you were gonna die. I'm just no good at the whole opening up thing. You were the one who was good at that, not me. I'm good at the bottling stuff up, not the pouring. But that night we had, and after that, I felt things shift between us. I felt the connection get deeper, and stronger and I had never felt like that before, and it scared me more than the first, more than Caleb, more than the end of the world." She sat up, her back still to the doorway, she pulled her legs to her chest, hugging them tightly, wiping her tears on her knees. "And man, do I know you would hate me saying this, but I never felt like that even with Angel. It was like I finally handed my trust over to you, he never got that from me, no one did. I was going to tell you all this after the big showdown, I was going to try to work things out with you, make them right, make up for how I treated you, and instead I got you killed. Wow, isn't that the way it always is with me? If you love somebody, don't set them free, get them killed! Isn't that just rich?"

"I'm just stupid, a stupid scared little girl, who always figures things out when its too damn late!" Buffy's tears were starting to be replaced with guilt and anger, she was mad. Mad at herself, and mad at him, for having to be the hero. "But you had to go and die, and it had to be all heroic and perfect, so I couldn't get mad at you for leaving this time. Why couldn't you live for me?" 

"I am, love." A voice came from behind her. Buffy jumped off the bench and turned around.

"You aren't there. This isn't real! Perfect Buffy, you really have lost it. This is just perfect." 

"No, this is real, I'm here." He started to walk towards her.

"No, you stop right there, this is my mind messing with me, and so I can make you stop!" She still didn't believe what she was seeing.

"Sorry pet, that's not the way it works." He continued forward.

Buffy began backing up. "You're dead!" She closed her eyes, "One, Two Three, when I open my eyes you'll be gone." When she opened her eyes he wasn't gone, but mere inches from her. Buffy didn't know what to do, so she reached her hand out, half expecting it to go straight through this spectre before her. It didn't. Instead it touched a warm cheek. The look in her eyes was complete shock, "Spike?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, love."

"Are you really here?"

"I'm as real as you are."

"Oh, that's nice." Was all Buffy got out before her eyes rolled up in her head and she passed out. Spike caught her and carried her into the lobby. Others were starting to mill about.

"What happened to her?" Willow asked with concern.

"Think I spooked her. Probably shouldn't 'ave been the one to tell her I'm back." Spike laid her on a couch. "I'm gonna go get her some water, can you keep an eye on her?"

"Of course! Go, see if they have a first aid kit, maybe they have some of those smelly things that wake people up."

"Smelling salts?"

"Yeah those too. Now go!" Willow shooed him away. "Buffy? Buffy? are you okay?" Willow gently tapped her friends arm. "Buffy, wake up!" Willow looked aorund the lobby to see if anyone else was around, no one was, she then slapped Buffy across the face.

"Ow! What the? Willow?"

"Sorry, you passed out, and the slapping thing always works in the movies." Willow smiled at her. "Are you okay?"

"I think something's wrong with me, Willow I had like this dream, and it was so real. I touched him, he was like right in front of me, not dead."

"Um, yeah there's something we kind of forgot to tell you." Willow said apprehensively, "See, Spike's kinda not dead."

Buffy sat up, "What?" she then realised she sat up to fast, making her dizzy. She gripped the back of the couch, "What? Wanna run that by me again?"

"Spike's here. He's back, they brought him back. He's important to the Powers so, they brought him back cos they still need him."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Buffy was simmering with anger. "I am sort of supposed to be let in on stuff this important."

"We wanted to make sure it was him, and that he wasn't evil. See he kinda showed up not knowing who he was and I got his memories back, and then this guy told us why he was here and stuff, and it's all happened so quickly, and you were gone and stuff."

"Who else knows about this?"

"Um, everyone but you and Dawn."

"Why didn't you stop us, why didn't you get all like, 'hey guys we think Spike's not dead, so why don't you stay a while?'"

"We didn't want to disappoint you, either of you. You both had a lot invested in him, and if it wasn't really him, or if we couldn't get his memories back or whatever, we didn't want to upset you guys."

"Great. This is just great."

"I thought you'd be happy, cos he's not dead, rather, he's back."

"I'm so confused, my insides are all jumbly." Buffy's senses were failing her. She was used to being able to feel his presence. "Why didn't I feel him here?"

"Things have changed, but I think you need to talk to him about that, and look! Here's your chance!" Willow got up quickly and ran for the stairs. "Good luck Spike, you guys have a lot to talk about! And look, she's awake!"

Spike walked over to the couch slowly. He could see she was upset, possibly angry. He sat on the opposite end of the couch, and turned to face her. "Buffy..."

"How long have you been back?" She wouldn't look at him, instead she stared into the empty room.

"I think I was barely gone for a few hours, its all a bit cloudy. I remembered you, that was all I remembered. I was looking for you, I think that's what brought me here."

"You look different." All her questions seemed empty, as if her mind was trying to make space for the reality of the situation.

"Yeah, I guess the Powers brought me back then way I was 'posed to look. Sort of natural."

"When you were gone did you go anywhere? You know like heaven or hell or another dimension or place without shrimp?"

"What? No, I don't think so. I really don't recall much before Willow gave me back my senses, I mean I remember the end. Got to see the big finish. It was glorious. You should be proud."

"I didn't finish it, you did." She gathered a though, "Did it hurt?"

"A bit of a burning sensation, was all I felt, love."

"How long were you in the garden? How much did you hear?"

"Probably most of it. You shouting at the stars about some stupid git who upped and left before you could tell him how you really felt.."

"I was talking about you."

"I know, I'm back from the dead, I'm not thick."

"Why didn't I feel you were there? I could always feel your presence when you were around."

"Well I'm a bit of a changed man." Spike reached over and grabbed the cross Buffy still wore around her neck.

"You're hand! You're not all smokey!"

"I'm not of the blood sucking undead variety anymore."

"You're a zombie?"

"Bloody hell woman! No, do you think I'd look this good if I were a zombie?"

"No, but what are you?" 

Spike picked up her hand, he scooted closer to her, and put her hand on his chest. He could tell when she felt it, she moved in closer, and put her head to his chest.

"You, you, you have a heart beat."

"Yes I do, I've also got a reflection, that whole need for air, the ability to spend an afternoon at the beach, but I can still be killed by a stake through the heart, but now its more of a bleedin' to death rather than dust turning concern. I was thinking about taking up surfing."

"You're alive? Like human?"

"Not like a human, I am a human, a special human, but pretty much human none the less."

A smile passed over Buffy's lips, she moved back towards him, and wrapped her arms around him, putting her head to his chest. "Bah Bum, Bah Bum, Bah Bum, it's so weird Spike." She looked up at him with her green eyes, and that look of childhood wonder and awe.

"Well, it's not all that weird, yours works the same as mine."

"Spike?"

"Yes, pet?"

"I meant all that stuff you overheard."

"I know you did love. I know." Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy and they held each other for a while. Not talking, just being near each other.

"I missed you, even though you were gone like a day according to me."

"I knew I missed you before I knew who you were again." Spike leaned down and kissed Buffy on the forehead, she only smiled.

Authors Note: If you have an issue with the way something is presented in my story please suggest a way to make it better. Constructive Criticism is always welcome, Flames are not. I would like to thank everyone who has supported this story. I'm new around here, and all of you have made me feel very welcome. This story is far from over, so keep your eyes peeled. This story was originally posted at there are more Buffy stories there that I haven't had a chance to move over to here yet. Again I thank you or all your support and kind words. Go Spuffies!!!


	12. Chapter 12

As Angel decended the steps he looked up, only to see Buffy cradled in Spike's arms. He could feel the jealousy rising in him. It almost felt as though Spike had taken over his life. 

"Evening." Angel first cleared his throat and then spoke.

"Hey Angel." Buffy quickly removed herself from Spike, and sat up, fixing herself like a teenager caught by a parent.

"Evenin' Peaches." Spike smiled.

Buffy looked at Spike, "I think I am going to escape this incredibly uncomfortable moment, and go tell Dawn about what's happened."

"Right love, don't let her pass out." Spike said with a smile, and kissed Buffy on the forehead before she got up and headed for the staircase.

"How'd she take it?" Angel asked tentatively.

"As expected I suppose. She made some remarks of disbelief and proceeded to pass out, a successful reintegration followed."

"Great." Spike could tell that Angel's voice was tinged with jealousy, that he had hoped she would reject Spike.

"You know, I didn't ask to be brought back here. What happened between me and Buffy when you were gone, I figured it long over, for her at least. Didn't have much left to live for, so I thought I'd use my end for a purpose. Of course it didn't work out as planned, but what does?"

"Yeah, fine."

"Don't 'yeah fine' me! You're my Grandsire, the closest thing to family I got, the least you could do is be honest with me!" Spike stood up and pushed Angel, "What do you want to fight is that it? Get your high and mighties out with a good old round of beat the hell out of Spike? Well go ahead then, get it out, cos I'm not gonna sit around here while you brood and fix your hair with the ol' misery hair gel!"

Angel punched Spike, and knocked the air out of him. Spike got up quickly though and, punched Angel in the mouth, splitting his lip, and then high kicked Angel in the chest. Both were surprised at the apparent more than human strength Spike posessed. _Insurance, The Powers and their damn insurance_ Angel thought to himself. Spike tried to throw a punch at Angel, but he grabbed his arm, pulling it around to Spike's back, pinning it, and pulling him closer to Angel. "Is this what you wanted Spike? A bit of the old days? Fists and Fangs? Too bad you're a bit short on the fangs these days." Angel butted his head into the back of Spike's skull and pushed him down to the ground.

"Bloody Hell!" Spike yelled and grabbed his head.

"That's what I thought Spike, I'm still better than you, and you'd do best to remember that."

"My. Head. Is. Killing. Me. Pain. What the?" Spike's eyes rolled up to the back of his head and he curled up on the floor.

"What did you do to him!?!" Buffy ran down the stairs, Willow and Fred weren't far behind. "Jesus Angel, he's human, couldn't you take it out on someone else?"

"But he started it!"

"Yeah, I'm sure, stop being so adolescent." All three girls glared at him.

"But really! I swear, he started it! And he's really strong, not stronger than me, but strong, so its not like the fight wasn't fair." Angel was trying to be convincing.

Buffy grabbed Spike. "Spike can you hear me?"

"My head, it's pain." He said as he opened his eyes. "Thanks a lot mate." He said as he looked up to Angel.

"But, come on! I didn't hit you that hard!"

"I meant thanks a lot for just standing there staring at me, I think one of those visions you're girl Friday used to have just lobotomized me."

"See? I told you it wasn't my fault!" Angel crossed his arms over his chest.

"What did you see?" Fred asked.

"You know, typical girl in peril, dark alley, three ungodly pale vamps trying to make a snack out of her."

"Any idea where?"

"Seventh and Vine. Oh yeah, the vamps are each wearing some sort of ring with this blue stone in it, might want to grab one up if you can."

"Ooo is it that time again? I've just been itchin' to kill somethin.' " Faith announced coming out of the kitchen. Everyone turned and glared at her. "What? Not in a homicidal way! Gotta make sure they didn't spread those slayer powers too thin!" A collective breath of relief could almost be heard.

"Yo count me in, it's been a while since I've gotten to kill something that wasn't controlled by a people eating god." Gunn joined her.

"I'll go get Kennedy, you know she'll want in on this." Willow ran upstairs. 

In a few minutes, Gunn, Faith, Kennedy, and Angel were well equipped with weapons and heading out the door.

* * *

Spike was still recovering from his first vision when Dawn came down the stairs.

"Well if isn't my little bit?"

Dawn walked up to him and slapped him, hard across the left side of his face. "That was for dying on us." She then proceeded to slap him across the right side of the face "That was for not telling us when you got back." She pulled her hand back for another when Spike reached out and grabed the wrist.

"I get the point Dawn. I'm sorry."

"I know, I just always wanted to slap someone like that!" Dawn smiled and reached out her arms to hug Spike. "I'm glad you're back, even if I was all jerky before."

"Beef or Turkey?"

"What?"

"Jerky, get it beef jerky? Oh never mind."

"Did they send you back with an even worse sense of humor? Cos that was lame with a capital la."

"So big sis' let you in on all the details then?"

"Yeah, somehting about Powers and stuff, I don't know, I'm just glad you're back. I was gonna call and get a pizza, cos I'm famished, and all previous attempts at the Dawn Summer's anchovy tortilla pizza have been failures. How do you feel about anchovies?"

"Don't know 'bout anchovies but this whole needin' food to survive thing has me a bit peckish."

Spike and Dawn headed to the kitchen, "After you Miss Summers." Spike held open the door and made a sweeping gesture wit his arm.

"Aren't you all gentleman like?" 

"Well a man should have manners." Spike smiled at her.

"I am happy you're back."

"I know bit, I know." Spike said as he followed her in.

* * *

An hour later Angel and company returned.

"Were they supposed to be all gooey?" Kennedy asked.

"Yo, that was sick, and I mean that in a literal way." Faith replied.

As the four of them entered the lobby all heads turned to them. They were covered in blue goo.

"What happened to you?" Wesley asked.

"The Vamps, man, I never seen anything like it, when we killed 'em..." Gunn started.

"They didn't turn to dust, they turned into this, " Angel reached in his pocket and reached out with a hand of the blue substance, "and sort of exploded."

"Did I mention it was sick?" Faith asked.

"Amazing, I've never heard of this happening, are you sure they were vampires?" Giles walked over to the group.

"They looked like vampires."

"They were definate members of the undead club, I didn't see a soul on them, and they were definately vamps." Angel added.

"Camille-Varian." Spike said loudly. "They were Camille-Varian Vamps."

"What?" Giles asked.

"I'll match that, and raise you a Huh?" Buffy added looking surprised.

"What like I can't know anything?" Spike asked in defense. "They're vamps, a clan out of the Netherlands, me an' Dru crossed their paths 'bout 20 years ago in Amsterdam, scary, scary freaks, surprised I didn't recognize them."

"Yeah and that's sayin' a lot considering who you were with." Angel added, giving Spike the eye.

"But what about the goo? The goo is not very vamp-like." Kennedy asked.

"I've heard of them, they aren't like other vampires." Wesley said, "They aren't ex-humans, they are ex-demons who were turned hundreds of years ago."

"So how does that make them vampires exactly?" 

"They are like regular vampires in every other regard, they drink blood, can die by the same means, they just were never human. Few demon races can be turned, fewer still that will take a human-like form. Most of these clans were wiped out during the crusades."

"Umm weren't the crusades about religion or something?" Dawn asked.

"Different crusades, these were carried out by vampires looking to cleanse the demon-vamp clans out. They almost succeeded."

"From what I'm covered in, I'm thinkin' they missed a group." Gunn said.

"Let me get a sample of that, I can take it back to the lab, I mean my lab." Fred grabbed a jar and filled it with goo.

"Oh yeah, I got you that ring you saw." Angel walked over and dumped a load of goo containing a ring on Spike's lap, "Sorry I didn't have a chance to clean it up." 

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere mate." Spike scowled at Angel.

"It should be smelly, I mean with it being all jello like, it should be smelly, like blue rasberry or something." Buffy said as she poked at the goo, "But it's definately fragrance free."

"Fred are you headed over to the offices now?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah I better start running some tests on this right away, I'm not sure if it will spoil."

"Ooo like a science lab? Can I come too?" Willow asked,

"I'll join you. Rupert, would you like to join me, I've got books you talk to and the words appear, its amazing."

"Yes, we can take the ring, see if there is any information on it. You really can talk to your books?" Giles asked in eager anticipation. Wesley nodded.

Willow, Fred, Giles and Wesley headed off to the Wolfram & Hart offices. Angel, Gunn, Kennedy and Faith hit the showers. 

"Mmm, I'm all yawn-y again." Buffy said as she raised her arms over her head in a yawn.

"You're best not to do that, causes a yawn-chain-reaction." Spike said as he too yawned.

"I think I'm gonna head up, I'm sleepy, again." Buffy looked at Spike, trying to read his reaction.

"I think I'm a bit knackered out myself."

Buffy and Spike headed upstairs. They stopped outside Buffy's room.

"Buffy, I..."

"Don't say it, I know, we won't be sharing beds."

"Is that alright?"

"I'm a big girl, I think I can fight the closet monster all by myself." Buffy smiled.

"Goodnight, love." Spike leaned in and gently kissed Buffy on the mouth, it was a quick, chaste kiss. It made Buffy want more.

"Yeah. 'night." Spike headed down the hall to his room. Before he went in, he turned and looked at her, gave her a little wave and went in. Buffy leaned against her door with a sigh. She went inside and crawled into bed. It was nice to not have to be the one covered in goo all the time she thought. She rolled onto her side, and fell into a deep sleep. It may have been deep, but it was by no means restful.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Okay, okay, you're requests have been heard, on with the Spuffiness! I am trying to avoid smutty/slashy moments, those are for another story. Instead this will be a bit on the tasteful side. Here is a whole chapter of Spuffy goodness, enjoy. ;) PS: Thanks for all the reviews, I really do appreciate you guys! You have inspired me to pump out a chapter a day (what did you think I was pumping?).

_Buffy was walking in a tunnel made of stone. She could hear him laughing, it chilled her to the bone. She was alone, wearing the white dress she first confronted him with. As she reached the end of the tunnel she saw him. It was the Master, she hadn't had dreams like this recently. He was holding Spike's lifeless body, she could see the holes in his neck, he was drained. As the Master dropped his body he looked up at her, his mouth red with blood, he smiled at her. As the body dropped the Master dug his nail into his wrist, and let the blood drip into Spike's dead mouth._

_"There are some things you will never control Slayer. Some things so much bigger than you you could barely comprehend them." As the Master finished he transformed into Angelus. "What princess you didn't think I was gone too? Gosh, I'm just waiting to get my hands on the two of you, I'll make quick work of you two, so powerless, it'll be like killing nuns in a convent." As he brought his hands up to clap at the thought he changed into a pale vampire she didn't know. "This battle is not yours, this time. I have a score to settle and if I have to kill you to do it, I will." As Spike began to rise, he took vamp face and looked at her, mouthing her name as the pale vamp brought down a stake straight to his heart. He dusted before her eyes. All she could do is scream, the vamp moved so quickly she didn't realise he was behind her, she felt his hands on her head as he began to snap her neck things slowed down..._

"BUFFY! BUFFY!" She could hear the voice calling her back. He was shaking her.

She sat straight up and took in a huge breath. Her face was wet with tears, her tee shirt soaked with sweat, she was shaking. She looked around like a spooked cat. 

"Shhhh, love it'll be alright." He wrapped his arms around her, and gently stroked her hair. "It was just a bad dream, everythings alright now, Spike's here, I won't let them hurt you."

"How did you know?"

"I'm sure you could have woke the dead with all the screaming, when I came in you were screamin' my name. At first I thought it was a different kind of dream." A wicked grin passed over his lips, "But then you started with the convulsing and the 'NO!' and I figured it wasn't as nice as previously thought."

"Oh, I'm fine, totally okie dokie."

"Pet, you're soaking wet, and look like, well I've never seen you this terrified." He noticed Buffy staring off into space, "Ground control to Major Tom?"

"What? Who's Tom? Oh, I'm fine."

"Once more with even less feeling, pet. Up with you, and into some dry clothes, wash you up a bit and put you back to bed."

Buffy looked straight at him, straight in his eyes, "He killed you, right there, right in front of me, and I couldn't do anything. I was too late." Tears were glazing over her eyes, she tried to blink them back, "I didn't do anything. Don't let him hurt you."

"Shhh, it was just a dream, no one's going to be hurting me anytime soon. Not with my slayer protecting me at least." He smiled at her, but he could see it was little comfort. He got up and rummaged through her clothes, finding her a clean, dry tee shirt. He went into the bathroom and returned with a damp washcloth. He wiped her face, and her neck. She just sat there, looking at him, watching him move. "Here, put this on." He handed her the tee shirt, she didn't have the energy to take it from him. Instead he sat behind her, pulling the shirt over her head.

"So shy suddenly?"

"What, love?"

"Why so shy? Ha! That rhymed, I'm like a poet." She fell back against him, and rolled over, pinning him down. "I don't remember you being this shy, its not like you haven't seen me topless before, Spike."

"Things have changed Buffy." He was using every bit of restraint he had in him to deny her. He rolled her off, and threw the shirt at her. "I thought things had changed, maybe I was wrong." He stood up and went towards the door.

"Spike?" Buffy's voice was barely audible, he wished he still had his vampire senses.

He didn't turn to look at her, "Yes."

"I'm sorry, my heads all messy right now. The dream made me think I was going to lose you, again." She put the shirt on.

"I'm not planning on going anywhere."

"He said there were things that were out of my control, that they were just waiting to destroy us. I didn't want it to happen before, before, I don't know, before we could be with each other."

He turned around, "No one's coming between us, I promise."

"You also said you'd never leave me."

"Love, I was barely gone for a day!"

"Don't leave me, now, stay here with me. What if I have another..."

"I'll stay, but no naughty touching."

"'pends on what you consider naughty." A devilish smile passed over her lips as she patted the bed.

"Tsk, Tsk" he pointed his finger at her, "I think I know who's been plenty of naughty."

Buffy giggled as he sat down next to her. "I'm just kidding you know. I just want you to hold me, I can't be without you right now, maybe not ever."

Spike tucked her hair behind her ear and kissed her on the forehead, and then on the lips, more deeply than before. Buffy felt something stir within her, a hunger for him. He pulled away first."God, I've missed you." He studied her face, tracing her cheek with the back of his hand. He then wrapped his arms around her. She snuggled into him, her head on his chest.

"Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He swallowed hard, he had waited so long to hear those words, and this time he couldn't deny her. "I love you too." He gave her a squeeze, and she settled in both of them falling asleep quickly.

* * *

They woke in the morning. It was the first night either had gotten more than 4 hours sleep. Spike woke first. Buffy was sprawled across him, clinging to him, breathing softly on his chest. He ran his hand through her hair, that gorgeous golden shampoo commercial hair. She stirred, he kissed her forehead.

"Mmm, g'morning." She stretched slightly against him, settled back into her former position and looked up at him with those big green eyes.

"Morning." He tried to move beneath her.

"Not so fast mister! You aren't going anywhere!" She pinned him down harder. "I think its time for a lazy butt morning in bed. Cos we don't have emminent apocalypse foreboding over us."

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Uh? Oh human, right, yeah please do." Buffy let Spike up. "Can you bring me a glass of water?"

"Of course." 

Buffy waited until he was safely in the bathroom before she started to do a self-congratulatory wiggle dance. "Ooo I am so cool, la dee da" She got out of bed and started hopping around like a bunny on speed, "Ooo I rule, Ooo boys drool, Ooo something that rhymes with ool." She was bopping her head back and forth, letting her hair thrash around, so some beat in her head.

"So is that you're sexy dance?"

She stopped. "What? Oh." Her face turned bright red.

"It's nice to see you so happy that you are dancing around like a freak." He walked over and swept her up in a kiss, as the kiss deepened Buffy could feel the draw between them, the power.

"I was wondering how long it was going to be before I got a super-Spike kiss."

He raised his scarred eyebrow, and smiled at her, "Super-Spike? Do I have to wear tights?"

"No tights, maybe a cape though." She smiled at him, he reached down and picked her up carrying her over to the bed. she looked up at him, and he could see it in her, she really did love him, something inside of her had changed since he last saw her in a moment of intimacy. She was opened up, like a flower in spring which has finally had enough sunlight to gather the strength to open to reveal a beautiful bloom.

He laid next to her, she reached her hand up and weaved her fingers through his hair, bringing his ear to her mouth. She kissed the lobe and whispered, "Make love to me William."

It always cut him straight to the bone when she called him by his given name. He felt like the king of the world, if he could bottle this moment he would want nothing more from this life. He pulled back and looked into her eyes, so full of kindess, and joy, something he had rarely seen within those depths. Slowly he leaned in to her, she closed her eyes and he lightly brushed his lips over hers, then returned and kissed her more deeply. Memories flooded back to him as their tongues mingled, her taste filling his mouth. He placed a hand on her hip, pulling her closer to him, she wrapped a leg around him, they couldn't get close enough to each other. 

They fell into synch with each other quickly, shedding clothing, exploring each other as if it were their first time together. Neither of them had ever experienced something like this before. He was so gentle with her, Buffy knew that he had always wanted to be with her like this, but that she wouldn't let him cherish her like this. Now though, it was different, she wanted this, she wanted this so badly, it seemed like this moment was what she had lived the last year for, this was why she had to close the hellmouth, so she could have moments of time like this. She didn't take here eyes off him the entire time, she was afraid to blink, thinking that maybe she was dreaming all of this. She had dreamt of him treating her like this once before, when she was using him, after the night they had shared at the bronze. He was so careful, he acted as though she could shatter at any moment, like a china doll or crystal vase. When she came she had hold back tears, as he collapsed on her, she felt him trying to do the same. They laid there like that for a while, holding each other.

There was a knock at the door. Both of them looked at each other with a reluctant sigh.

"Who is it?" Buffy called out.

"It's me, I know you two are in there. Can I come in?" It was Willow.

"Will, um we are kinda in bed."

"This is important, and I don't care if you are in bed, you know this."

"Come on in Red, lets hear what you've got."

Willow walked in the room. She blushed as she took her first look at the pair. She found a chair and pulled it closer to the bed, just not too close. Willow looked at Buffy _*Well at least he didn't lose that tight little body?* _Buffy's eyes grew wide. Her and Willow had been doing a lot of telepathic communicating recently. _*Willow! and to think I thought you were playing for the other team.*_ Buffy smiled at her. *_Hey that doesn't mean I can't admire or appreciate a guy who looks that good without a shirt.*_

"Girls! Stop it!"

Both of them looked at Spike, alarmed. "Don't think I can't hear that? I know what you two are doing. Thank you Willow, but I thought you had something to tell us?"

"Uh, yeah." Willow looked embarrassed. "Okay Giles and Wesley had way too much fun with those books, I mean it was like Watcher's Gone Wild, all they were missing were those Mardi Gras beads. They did find somethingout about those rings. They are Camille-Varian, but they belong to the warriors of the group. Its like a medal, but it goes on their fingers."

"What's up with all the baddies and their rings?" Buffy asked remembering the order of Turoka and their rings.

"I don't know, but their like the special-ops team for their clan. They only get sent out on really important jobs." 

"So was the girl I saw important? Maybe she's got something they want?" Spike asked.

"No, it was more of a set up, I think they were trying to coax Angel out. Wes and Giles think that they may be looking for the two of you, I think they have a score to settle."

"I don't think Angelus ever ran into them. Dru and I did, but it was more of an us running away trying to save ourselves situation."

"They attacked you?"

"In a sense, they tried to burn down the flat we were staying in, but we had been out that night. Dru had a thing for the red light district. When we came back the flat was, well flat. There was a few of them still there, they saw us, and the chase began. We made it to a warehouse just before sunrise, the two who were chasing us weren't so lucky, they ended up piles of jelly."

"Do you know why they wanted the two of you?"

"Nope, we just figured we were stomping on their territory. Europe's like that, everyone's got a territory and if you cross borders you get attacked, sometimes its fun, but no one messes with these guys." Spike was serious.

"Well they are still looking into why they were trying to get Angel out, I don't know if they know about you yet."

"They probably do."

"Why?"

"Well, when the watchers were researching didn't they learn what they are, or were?"

"They didn't mention it to us."

"Camille-Varian, means pale variety. But its not variety as in type, its variety in more of a chameleon way. They are shapeshifters, that's why they can look human. More so though they are sort of like Empath demons, they have sight. Sort of an all knowing, all seeing, can look however they like group of vampires. The reason they were never defeated in the crusades was that they saw them coming, and made a hell of a dusty mess wiping out the troops."

"So wait, they can look like anyone they want and know everything? Gee that's not an unfair advantage or anything." Buffy said with disbelief.

"Not exactly. They are restricted. They can look human, but their human form isn't very human looking, they are very pale, with ice blue eyes, and near to white hair, you can nearly see their veins under the skin, they look like blue rivers on a map. I'm surprised I didn't recognize them in my vision, but it happened so fast. They can't take a particular humans form or anything. They can masquerade as other types of demons, but they are always pale with those blue eyes. They don't travel outside of the Nordic regions much, because there they aren't so striking. Also there are no whatwe would consider females, they always take male form. They may have sight, but all you need are two eyes to recognize them. Not all of them have the sight either, the oldest and wisest of sorts have the vision, they sort of command the others what to do."

"We gotta get this info to Wes & Giles. I think everyone needs to know this stuff, and I know this is only the tip of the iceberg isn't it?

"Red, please, stay out of my head, or you might make me take a trip in yours."

"Sorry, I'll let you two get dressed and stuff, we have food downstairs. Dawn and Andrew made chocolate chip pancakes, and they didn't end up all burned. So if you don't hurry there won't be any left." Willow got up and left, closing the door behind her.

"You can do that now? Get in people's heads?"

"Love, I could always do that, I just don't."

Buffy looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"All vamps sort of have gifts. Some of us just don't use them. Dru had sight, and that thrall thing she could do with her hands, make people all hypnotized. Well I can sort of get inside people's heads. 'Aven't done it in a while, but I can if I want to. How do you think I know so much about the lot of you?"

"Shut up! Why has no one told me this before? What am I thinking?"

"You'd rather not go downstairs right now, instead you'd prefer another go around with me." He replied with a smile.

"Oh My God!"

"Love I didn't need to read your mind to know that. It's written all over your face." He kissed her hard and got up to get dressed.

"Hey that's not fair!"

"Just letting you know, it's been a while since I've had a girl about. I think you just may have your plate full with me." He winked at her. "I'll stop back here in 5 minutes, you'd better be dressed and ready to go down, I mean head downstairs, otherwise I'm dragging you down as is."

"But I'm all icky, I need a shower."

"You're not icky, now get up, you've got five, otherwise you don't want to know what I'm going to have to do to you later!"

"Well if thats the case, then I'm not moving a muscle."

He gave her a look which she knew was the, 'come on slayer, cut it out' look. He headed back to his room and she got up. Her hair looked like some sort of lightsocket experiment gone wrong. She tamed it into a bun on her head, which was more like a big knot, and threw on some clothes, a pair of her favorite work-out pants and a tank top with a zipper sweatshirt. She wasn't concerned with being a fashion goddess. Spike stopped by and they headed down together. 

When they got to the lobby they could hear laughter coming from the kitchen, and a familiar voice. They headed towards the ruckus, as they entered the room the laughing stopped. A familiar face stopped, putting her hands on her hips she turned around. 

"What? Oh, look its Buffy and her lap dog!." The group started laughing again.

Buffy stopped in her tracks, "Cordelia?"


	14. Chapter 14

"So if I understand this right, Cordelia is all coma-free because Spike carries her visions?" Buffy was slumped against the refrigerator, eating a chocolate chip pancake rolled like a burrito.

"Well, Wolfram & Hart have incredible resources, when her visions were lifted it was only a few moments before our Mages could remove the mystic coma." Lilah was there too.

"Yeah, but there's gotta be a but, because this sort of thing always has a but." Buffy asked.

"Well, the consequences are that she has lost some time in her memory. She doesn't remember much of the last 2 years."

"Yeah, according to me you were still 6 feet under rotting worm food, until everybody explained, and kinda got me caught up." 

"Wow, Cordelia the love is just radiating from you." 

"Whatever dead girl."

"Girls! Stop it!" Angel was sick of the bickering. "Look, Cordy, Buffy's not dead. Buffy, Cordy's not in a coma, everyone clear on that?"

"God Angel, lighten up." Cordelia was smiling at him. "It's not like I gave birth to a people eating god from another dimension. Oh, wait, I guess I did didn't I?" Cordelia started laughing.

"How can she make fun of that? I mean we all were here for it, and she makes it sound like another day at the office!" Gunn was annoyed.

"Down boy, it's cool, someone has to be a breath of sunshine around here, look it's the doom and gloom squad, with the addition of Sunnydale's finest it's like one big vat of pain!" Cordelia rolled her eyes and sat on a stool.

"If it's any consolation, I like the highlights, they make you look, more appropriate." Buffy commented.

"Really? I wasn't sure about the blonde, but I think it's me"

"Yeah now you are the walking blonde joke!" Xander laughed.

"Enough! I have a hell to get back to people. Oh yeah, Spike, welcome back, Dru says hello, as does Miss Edith." Lilah said.

"Dru?"

"Don't ask, they have her on retainer or something, you know evil law firm stuff." Buffy patted his arm.

"Oh I almost forgot, Cyclops, yeah you Captain Jolly Roger." Lilah pointed at Xander, "I hear you're a real Viking in the sack." Lilah wnked at him, "Regardless if I saw you I was supposed to tell you she says 'it's not as unpleasant as she suspected, its more the humidity than the heat, hell is also lacking in the cheese department, but that may be due to freshness issues and not the lack of cows.'"

"Anya? You talked to Anya?"

"You would be the one-eyed-ex-fiance she talks about right?"

"She talks about me?"

"Incessantly, I wish they'd have sent her to a different hell dimension, she's nothing but a chatter box. You really screwed her over didn't you? She said she's glad there are no bunnies in hell."

"She's the perfect woman." Andrew said dreamily as he looked at Lilah. "You should be nicer to her."

"Well, I should be back, I'm supposed to play Mah-jong with Anya at 4."

"There's Mah-jong in hell?"

"What did you expect us to do all day? Play twister?"

"Hey, dead-lawyer chick?" Xander walked over to Lilah.

"It's Lilah, Pirate boy."

"It's Xander psycho-bitch. Tell Anya I miss her, and that I'm sorry about the humidity, and the dying."

"Right, fine, I'm like an interdimensional Western Union, anyone else have a message for hell?"

Lilah walked out of the room and disappeared.

"Anya? Anya the wierdo with the necklace? The wish-master? The take-Buffy-out-of-Sunnydale-watch-Willow-turn-dominatrix Anya? You were going to marry her?" Cordelia scoffed at Xander.

"At least I didn't give birth to a full grown people eating god!"

"I am doomed to be trapped with you people for all eternity. This is exactly how I imagine my personal hell." Giles shook his head, and cleaned his new glasses.

Willow filled them in on what Spike had told her about the Camille-Varian.

"It's the grudge! I, we, read about this!" Wesley looked at Giles.

"You really ought to see these books, see you pick them up and say what you want to read and..." Giles was so excited he was talking as fast as Andrew after too many Jaffa cakes. "Yes, there was some information on why they may be targeting you." He returned to his stern Watcher demeanor.

"So what did I do now? This is like the worst week of my life. Maybe we're all stuck in hell, maybe this is hell? Its not as rocky as I remember, but hey to each his own dimension." Angel was frustrated after the past few days, he had every right.

"It goes back to the Crusades; apparently the Master was one of the generals of sorts. He along with several other vampire clan leaders had put together the plan to destroy the 'unclean' ones. The Aurelian's, your clan, did a lot of damage. Perhaps because the Master is gone, they are going after who they must see as the current head Aurelian. That would be you, Angel, or as they must think, Angelus."

"That's probably why they came after me an' Dru in Amsterdam, the lineage."

"Or maybe its cos they have an idiot detector and were looking to wipe out the mentally challenged?" Angel asked, only getting dirty looks.. "Probably not, but it was worth a shot. Why aren't they going after him?" He pointed at Spike.

"They are." Buffy said in a small voice.

"What Buffy?" Giles looked concerned.

"I had a dream last night, not really a dream, maybe one of those slayer-prophecy thingies." Buffy looked sheepish at the thought. "The Master, Angelus, Spike and some pale icky guy were in it. The Master had killed Spike, killed human Spike, and turned him before my eyes. But then he morphed into Angelus."

"Spike morphed into Angel?"

"No, The Master morphed into Angelus, it wasn't Angel, he isn't like Angelus, I knew it was Angelus, he said things, bad things, and it was the way he said it. And then Angelus turned into what I guess must be Chameleon-Variety Hour guy and he said something about how I couldn't stop it. And then he dusted Spike."

"But Spike was dead."

"No, he was rising."

"Umm, I think I speak for all of us when I say Huh?" Xander asked.

"What do you need a freakin' diagram?"

"They have a big board!" Andrew piped up. 

"The Master was talking his usual brand of crap, about how I can't control things, that some things are too big for me to understand, then Angelus said something about how it was going to be so easy to kill us, like fish in a convent?"

"Nuns in a convent." Angel quietly corrected her.

"Yeah, nuns! That was it. And then it was blue-pale guy telling me how he had a score to settle and he'd kill me if he had to, then he killed Spike, and right before I woke up he was snapping my neck."

"Oo one of those fun happy prophecy dreams. Wow, B, I'm glad you got the visions and not me. Don't you ever just have sex dreams like the rest of us?" Faith shook her head at the thought.

"So Angelus is going to kill all of us? Wow, where have I heard that one before? Oh wait, High School, that's it!" Xander gave Angel a look, he still didn't like the vamp, soul or no soul.

"Not all of us, exactly. More like Spike and me, he said 'you two' which kinda implied me and the dead body in front of him."

"Well, its lovely to see that the dreams have remained cryptic and virtually useless!" Wesley said in a fake cheerful voice.

"We will have to see what we can figure out about this, don't worry, we'll research it, and find out what's going on." Giles tried to sound reassuring.

Fred and a guy in a lab coat ran through the door into the kitchen. Both were out of breath.

"You know we have cars for that sweetheart, we are a high power law firm, you don't have to go running through the streets." Lorne quipped.

"Bad." breath "News." breath "Goo. Bad." Fred was near hyperventilating.

"Goo Bad? Wow, Fred's English has so improved since Pylea!" Cordy announced.

The guy with her started, "Goo is a transitional phase, its not good, its a crystal matrix, made up of human blood and some amino acids."

"Transitional Phase? Matrix? I don't like the sound of this." Willow looked upset.

"Who is this guy?" Gunn was getting defensive.

"This is Knox, he works for us, and is not evil. Willow left before we got back the analysis, and before it happened." Fred was finally catching her breath.

"Before what happened?"

"Before they came back." Knox finished for Fred as the blood drained from both of their faces.


	15. Chapter 15

"Well, _they_ may be a bit of an overstatement. More like one." Fred clarified.

"Didn't the alarms go off, we have precautions set up against this sort of thing, don't we?" Angel asked.

"Well we sort of had to shut down the vampire alert system when our new boss just happened to be one." Knox answered. "Anyways, I doubt they would have been able to do anything, this guy was fast."

"Wait, can we back up here, what exactly happened?" Wesley asked.

"We were working in the lab. Running some tests, you know, burning it, boiling it, dilluting it, that sort of thing. But we had put the original sample in holding box, so we didn't see what was happening."

"And why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Buffy asked.

"Because it was replicating, copying itself, making more of the gelatinous substance. We didn't notice until we saw it leaking out of the box. One of the assistants went to open the box to clean up the mess, and well, lets just say we'll have to clean up the assistant." Knox started.

"The goo like reconstituted, all Terminator style back into what I suspect you were fighting." Fred finished.

"Where is it now?" Angel asked

"Probably long gone. It ripped through the lab, really destroyed thousands of dollars of equipment, killed a couple of technicians, and that's when we ran. I'm sorry Angel we should have stayed and tried to stop it or something."

"No Fred, it was smart of you to run, otherwise we might be cleaning you up off the lab floor."

"Yo, you know what's weird?" Faith asked, "Those vamps we wiped out, I don't remember them looking different."

"What do you mean?"

"She means they all were the same, identical like." Gunn realized he couldn't recall them being different either.

"Like clones? Great, this is some sort of attack of the clones?" Buffy asked.

"I saw that movie, it's okay the force is with us." Andrew said. 

"The force?"

"The force of good? Duh. We're like the Jedi and their like the clones."

"Andrew, you really haven't ever known the touch of a woman have you?" Xander asked.

"I was just saying there was a parallel to be drawn between Episode 2 and our predicament. And I'll have you know Anya touched me once, and Dawn ripped the tape off my chest when we tried to record the first, so there was touching there, and they were women."

"Unless... nevermind, Andrew, just shut up."

"Of course!" Willow jumped up, "Eureka! Light-bulbs going off in my head! They are clones, the goo can replicate itself, so I bet if two big piles of it get seperated they both morph into a new guy, but the same guy!"

"So does this mean we just washed a small army into the sewers?" Kennedy asked.

"No, I'm sure it has to be pure material, any dillution could upset the balance and make reproduction impossible. I bet that's why they couldn't be wiped out during the Crusades, everytime they thought they had killed one, it could have turned into 2 or more identical vamps, so all of a sudden you could go from fighting 200 vamp-demons to fighting 2,000!" Willow explained.

"And to think, we thought we had our hands full with the Turok-Han Hellmouth birthing center." Buffy laughed.

"There must be a way to stop them, they feel threatened by the Aurelius vamps, which means there must be something that can destroy them." Giles noted.

"So are you gonna go off and consult the books?" Dawn asked.

"Actually, yes." Giles looked put off.

"Some of us should probably head into the office today, check things out, see if we can find anything out. Wes you and Giles should head to the libraries and to our antiquities collection. Fred, Knox, head back to the lab and see what you have, see if there is anything else you can learn. Willow, I'd like you to head over to our magick department, see if there is anyone trustworthy in there, if you have your doubts, make them sing for Lorne. Maybe there's a magical way to stop them from replicating? Xander, we have a construction division, nothing fancy, maybe you could take a look at the lab? We'll pay you as a general contractor, make it worth your while. Cordelia, you could go through the records, see if we have done any business with these Camille-Varian's in the past, we might have a way in through that, take Dawn and Andrew with you, they're good at, err reading? Faith, you should take the rest of the potentials to the airport and bus station, they should all be out of here by tonight. Mr Wood will be heading back to New York to consult with his mother's old watcher, see if he has any texts left from the Council, maybe he has something we don't. Gunn, I want you to hit the streets see if any of your old crew has run across these guys, or if they have heard of any new nests or hideouts, if you can wait Faith can help you out."

"I just love it when Peaches gets all bossy." Spike said to Buffy.

"Spike, Buffy, I want you two to stay here, in case they try to attack."

"Oh thanks, please leave us to fight the unkillable army of clones!" Spike mocked Angel.

"I doubt they will be heading here, from what we know, they will know I'm not here."

"And who's to say they aren't after yours truely?" Spike asked.

Angel rolled his eyes. "Is there anyone I missed?"

"No, I don't think so, but we do have something else to deal with, namely the Cleveland Hellmouth." Giles said.

":I forgot about that, we should send a team out there. If only to get a feel for the town see if the activity level is up."

"I've already applied for a job at one of the high schools, it seems they have a problem with gangs on PCP killing principals as PHS24." Wood added, "I was planning on heading down after I go to see Crowley."

"I can't take my parents for more than a week, so I could head down too, when Wood leaves, you know, become a guardian of a hellmouth." Kennedy announced.

"Did somebody say New York, as in New York City, as in 5th Avenue, Manhattan, etceterra.?" Cordelia asked.

"Well, I'm going to have to go down to the Hamptons to my parents summer house..." Kennedy started.

"Angel, sorry hon, but I haven't had a vacation in forever, and a coma doesn't count. For some reason I hear the Hamptons calling my name, 'Cordelia, Cordelia come experience the luxuriousness of our fabulous parties..'." Cordelia was being dramatic, "That is if it's cool with Junior Slayer over there. I could head out to Cleveland or whatever then, sort be the W&H Liason of stuff in Cleveland." 

"I'm sure Wolfram & Hart have a Cleveland division Cordelia, but fine, if its okay with them you can head out there."

"It's fine with me, I can just tell my parents you're my new watcher."

"No you won't! I am in no way old or British enough to pass for a watcher!"

"Cordelia it may provide you with the ability to recieve a salary." Wesley knew there was one thing Cordy loved more than the rich & famous and that would be the rich.

"Really? Okay, fine, Watcher-girl I am."

"Dawn & Andrew are going to need someone to help them through the files, maybe Lorne?"

"Cupcake, you know I love ya, but I'm not much on the old stinky file room, the dust hurts my throat and do you know what that can do to a career?

"Fine, I'll take them down there." Angel settled. "We should get going

The group headed to Wolfram and Hart said their goodbyes to Kennedy, Wood and Cordelia. It was especially bittersweet for Angel, as he knew that Cordy didn't remember their last two years together. They promised to be in contact through email as soon as they arrived in New York, and were given W&H cell phones to keep in touch with. Buffy & Spike also said their goodbyes to the New York bound. Spike didn't really feel the need to bid too fond adieu to any of them as he wasn't too familiar with Cordelia, Wood had plotted his demise, and well he thought Willow could do better than Kennedy. The rest of the crew loaded up and headed to Wolfram & Hart, leaving behind the phone numbers where everyone could be reached. Faith reminded Buffy not to do anything she would do while she was gone, Buffy laughed at the thought, not knowing what Faith knew from Spike.

"So love, finally got all this room to ourselves."

"Yup, we sure do."

"So what should we do?"

"We could go shopping, get you out of Wesley's lame clothes."

"You know, some of his clothes aren't so bad, I think he's got a bit of the wicked in him. Black leather pants, grommet belts, and I swear there were a pair of handcuffs in his closet."

"Really? Wow, makes you wonder what really goes on at Watcher school, Giles was a demon worshipping delinquent, Wesley is some sort of S&M bondage-man, maybe we should go to Britain?" She laughed. Spike loved seeing her happy, smiling, laughing.

"Didn't you go shopping yesterday?"

"A girl can never shop too much, its like a scientific impossibility. Plus I have a whole wardrobe to replace, as mine is currently subterranean."

"I definately could use some new clothes. I 'aven't been shopping for a long time, hard to find many clothes shops open after dark in Sunnydale."

"See? Plus this is LA, which means awesome shops, and a huge variety. Come on, we can steal one of Angel's cars, it'll be fun."

"Are you suggesting we rip off the magnificent pouf?"

"Well, it's not really ripping it off if we bring it back before any of them realize we were gone right?"

"Hmm didn't think if it that way, I guess you're right. Not like I care anyways, I mean it is Angel we're talking about."

"Play nice."   
  
"When have I ever not?" Spike winked at her. Buffy grabbed up their cell phones.

**Sorry about how long it took me to get this up, and about how lame it kinda turned out. It's a transitional chapter, what do you expect? Thanks for the reviews, if you keep reviewing, I'll keep writing! Thanks! -Adrianna


	16. Chapter 16

**Secret Underground Lair**

"They are going to find out, your inadequecy may get us all killed!" Odin yelled at creature in front of him. "You are a disgrace, you are not worthy to be one of us!" He was angry. He had named himself Odin because with the way things were, he felt as a god. It was only fair to name himself after the all knowing Odin.

"Sir, I am sorry, we didn't think there would be so many of them."

"Well I warned you what was seen, but you did not heed the warnings, now you have killed off 3 other guardsmen, are you pleased with your failure?"

"No sir, I am not." He held his head low in shame. 

"Go, I don't want to look at you, you make me sick!" Odin pointed at the door and the creature took his cue. A few moments later another one entered the room.

"Odin?"

"Yes, Mimir, what is it?" 

"We have had a vision." Mimir was one of the old ones, he had been around since the battles. He knew why they had come to this place, this place where it was too hot, and the sun shone for too long. At least where they came from they had months of nothing but darkness. The trade off was months of light, but usually by then they had enough captives to keep themselves until the sun set again. Mimir was one of the guardians of knowledge, he was wise and watched over the elders, interpreting their visions and passing the information onto Odin.

"Yes, and what have you seen?"

"The Aurelian has many resources and apparently has human followers. They have set off on a mission of some sort, to the building where Fein escaped from. This building holds much information, including the books of Mordgud and Ygg."

"I suspected this would come to be. Assemble the Berserkers, we will need them to split, I doubt our army is large enough as it stands."

"Of course, we have already begun the splitting. Berserker is preparing them for war. The elders are resting now, I will consult them again once they have recovered." Mimir bowed as he exited the room.

Odin sat in his chair thinking about what had to be done. The Aurelian had not been to their land in many years, but now the elders were becoming more frail, he could do nothing to save them but he could destroy the reason for their failings.

* * *

**Wolfram, Hart & Angel too.**  
  
Wesley and Giles were on the floor of the library. Not only did Wolfram and Hart have a large selection of books on command, they also had a massive collection of ancient texts, some being the only copy on earth. They had translators on call, but Wesley didn't trust any of them.

"This is hopeless Rupert, we have been going through these books for hours and we have found nothing on the demons these vampires originated from." Wesley was tired. They had been researching the symbol on the ring, going through every Demon compendium they could find.

"Well there are still the Lomshat Demonolgy Chronicles and the books of Innishi to go through." Giles was near giving up as well. He was rolling the ring between his fingers. The topaz blue stone was enchanting, the silver ring it was set in constantly felt cold, and more than once he thought it wasn't silver at all, but some sort of blueish colored amalgamation. "Wesley, how many demons have we known which wear rings? How many have we found in the books?"

"Eight, maybe nine, not as many as I would have thought, but we did find refrences to the Camille-Varian, and they did say those rings belonged to warriors."

"What creatures do we know to wear rings as a general characteristic?"

"Well we have trolls, faeries, elves, giants and gods, but giants and gods have long been extinct, they disappeared around the time demons rose."

"So that leaves us with trolls, faeries and elves correct?"

"Yes, but this ring is far too small for a troll, they may not be giants, but they share a taxonomic family. A troll ring would be 3 times the size of that. Are you thinking the Camille-Varian aren't demon-vamps at all?"

"Perhaps, all of the pieces seem to be falling in place. I too know this isn't troll in origin, and the ring is not enchanted, so I doubt this is faerie."

"Which leaves us with elves." Wesley thought for a moment, "Of course! Elves! It makes perfect sense. The coloring, the ring, Spike said they had confronted them in Amsterdam correct?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Most of the elven populations congregate in cold regions, mostly through Nordic Europe and Siberia.It was rumoured there was a group or two which had made their home in Alaska and Northern Canada, but there have been few excursions to the regions to confrim this suspicion. But why would they be this far South?"

"I'm not sure, generally they have no tolerance for the heat, for them to come this far it must be important. Also these are vampire hybrids, so perhaps the heat isn't as bothersome."

"Rupert, this makes no sense though, elves are harmless, they are peacekeepers. The dark elves were wiped out over a thousand years ago, since then the light elves have been peaceful, vampires don't even war with them, they are the Switzerland of the non-human realm."

"Yes, but everything else fits, elves have the visions, they are pale, humanoid in form, the dark elves were rumored to take on a blue hue if I remember correctly, and some elves can self replicate. They don't breed in a conventional sense." Giles picked up a copy of the Svartalfheim Guide to Elven Dynasties. There were few books dedicated to the dark elves, Svartalfheim was one of the only books in existence. "This book discusses the origins of the dark elves, saying that they were thought to have feasted on the flesh of the dying gods when the age of demons began and the age of gods ended. This feasting made them grow strong, but also gave them a hunger for the flesh. They were cast into the bowels of the earth, forced to become forgers and smiths, creating beautiful useless objects. They also dug tunnels to the surface, but not until they had nearly eaten themselves into extinction. Apparently they were cannibals, having craved the flesh of gods, they ate each other to take back the pieces of the gods which had been dispersed through them. By the time they surfaced only 12 had survived, but were much stronger than the light elves, trying to steal their lands and slaughter them. The gods became angry and sent down the last of the giants to quash them, but instead the cunning dark elves drained the giant of its blood and fashioned a castle from its body. From there the 12 seem to have become vampires of sorts. The age of man was rising, and the dark elves believed that man were only small giants and began feeding upon them."

"So these elves were never turned by vampires themselves, instead became vampires through assimilation?"

"Wait there is more here. The 12 elected one named Odin to be their leader, he went down to the light elves land and stole 5 warriors. He split them in two, and dripped his own blood onto their severed bodies. Only one warrior survived, his name being Berserker, when cut in two he copied himself, in so creating an army through splitting. Of the 12 four were ancients, being of the first to feast upon the gods, and thus carrying the visions the gods passed to them upon consumption. Odin named Mimir to be his scribe and to record the visions of the elders. Four others were sent back to Svartalfheim, the underworld to forge weapons for the upcoming battles against those who would threaten their state. The dark elves then began to make weapons for the other dark warriors including the trolls. Wow they must have made Olaf's hammer."

"Olaf?"

"Anya's ex, she turned him into a troll, he had a very large hammer. Buffy beat the hell out of Glory with it, quite an impressive piece of weaponry." 

"So is that all? Is there anything else on them?"

"Oh, it appears two of the twelve left the clan. They knew of Odin's intent to begin war on the elves of light, and later the vampires. One went to the leader of the light elves to warn him and to help him prepare for the battle, the other went to the Master of the vampires. With these elves came the secret to killing their brethren."

"Well, brilliant, now we know how to get rid of them!"

"It's not here. The book ends with that. There is nothing more."

"So the Camille-Varian are really what?"

"Dark-elves, the Svartalf. This would figure as to why they can tolerate the climate here, they were working in the inferno's of the earth, its not exactly cool there."

"So there is a way to kill them?"

"There must be. Perhaps this text is mistaken, maybe the Svartalf went to see the Master, he was not the vampire leader, only the leader of his clan, but this mistake could have easily been made by someone not familiar with the vampires."

"Do you think this elf brought the idea of the Crusades to him?"

"I think it's very likely. We need to look into the crusades, see if there is mention of this elf."

"So all the former information on the Camille-Varian?"

"I think it was a mistake, I think that they couldn't find any other reasonable solution than that they had been turned demons, as few are familiar with the dark elves. There is near to no information on the Camille-Varian, except some rumors and descriptions."

"What about the shapeshifting?"

"I think that was because they can split, many texts were poorly translated, perhaps shapeshifting was really shapesplitting."

"That would make sense. I think we have some of the elven texts here, I'll go check storage and the safe."

"I'll look into the Crusades, we have several good recollections from the Watchers journals, and the Council had a book or two on it. What are the chances our Watcher thief stole a copy of the entire watchers library?"

"I haven't been able to come up with a single book that the Council had that this library doesn't have. It's almost suspicious."

Wesley and Giles split up. They only hoped the rest of the group had found as much useful information as they had, but they knew that it wasn't very likely.


	17. Chapter 17

**Authors Note** I appologize for my updates taking so long. Instead of writing I've actually been attempting to work at my job, I know, What a Concept! So I hope you enjoy the twists and turns and all that crap. I appologize for any mistakes, spelling or otherwise, as soon as I can I will be editing this, I just haven't had a chance. As always your reviews keep me writing, so if you stop reviewing, I don't think any one is reading my story, so I stop writing it. I've got 2 other stories up, my AltU Buffy Season 7 'From Beneath You It Devours' and my historical Angelus, Darla, Dru and Spike story 'Arkhangelsk' so if you get the time check them out and let meknow what you think. Again, I read and review people who do the same for me, so think of it like a 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' sort of thing (how Anya of me). Thanks for your patience!! -Adrianna

Buffy and Spike were the last to get back to the hotel. Wesley and Giles filled everyone in on what they found out relating the Camille-Varian to the dark elves. Gunn and Faith had no luck, as did no one else, finding anything out about their new enemies.

"This is just like Lord of the Rings." Andrew whispered to Xander.

"Yeah, well I am definately Aragon."

"Um, no, Aragon has two eyes, you can be Gimli."

"The dwarf? Whatever." Xander huffed.

"So do we know how to stop the evil elves?" Buffy asked and then began laughing, "Sorry, I mean _evil elves, _who besides me is imagining Santa's little helpers?"

"With their little pointy shoes and hats with bells on?" Willow gleefully added, only being met with stares, "What? So a Jewish girl can't have seen Santa's elves at the mall? Sheesh."

"Buffy these are dark elves, they seem to prefer to send out their army rather than do the work themselves, so they will be very difficult to defeat, especially if they can continually refuel the army with more soldiers. Plus those soldiers we do manage to destroy may ultimately just return two or three-fold. This is not as simple as it appears." Giles was trying to keep them on track.

"That's what you said about the Hellmouth, and look we closed that for good, so I can't imagine a few elves will be that difficult to defeat."

"You don't understand Buffy, we can't just defeat their army, we have to destroy all of them, which as history has shown, may be incredibly difficult. From what we know even the vampire Crusaders couldn't wipe them out, nor could the light elves, both groups being supernaturally strong, and having information provided to them by the traitors." Wesley added.

"So we find the info, rally the troops and take care of it, you make this sound impossible, and let's face it, you're talking to a girl who has been dead twice, blown up a high school and closed a hellmouth. This can't be that bad."

"Well, it is. We found vague refrences to the information the traitors carried with them, and it seems that defeating them won't be as easy as we had hoped. Technically speaking they are indestructible, as we will never be able to actually get to all of the elders. What it seems the light elves and vampires were doing was looking for a way to bind all of the dark elves and then to transport them dimensionally to someplace that isn't here."

"Well, I can bind them, that's simple enough, it's no scythe power transferrance spell, but I'll settle to go back to the classics." Willow said.

"That wasn't the problem for them either, it was the dimensional portal."

"We can open a portal, we've done it lots." Fred said.

"Yeah Wes, you know this. We just call up Lorne's friend, find us a hot spot, speak some vowel-less words and ta-da! Portal to another dimension."

"Yes Gunn, I am quite aware of that, but the problem is getting them into the portal. We know how fickle hot spots are, the chances that they are sitting on one are slim to none, so we will have to lure them in, and that won't be easy."

"Well can't we just bait them? Evil things always take the bait." Faith asked.

"What would we bait them with? It would have to be exceptional to get one of the actual dark elves to come out of hiding. What would they want?"

"Speaking as a formal evil super power," Andrew started, "I know I was in it for money, slave girls, world domination, and a complete set of original late seventies Star Wars action figures." 

"Well, I doubt Luke Skywalker will be enticing enough." Xander laughed.

"I was just trying to help, I mean its not like we exactly have evil's opinion sitting around here." Andrew rolled his eyes. Then noticed the disgruntled looks around him, "Well except Spike and Angel were evil vampires for over a century, and Willow went all Darth Rosenberg two years ago, and from the looks I'm getting I'll just shut up now cos apparently this is like the Evil Anonymous meeting."

"Thank you Andrew for that insightful if not useless information." Giles cleaned his glasses, "We have come up with a few possibilities of ways to work on this. First it seems that the two traitor elves may still be out there. Angel we would like to search the Wolfram and Hart databases to see if we have any rogue elves on file, also we would like to get in contact with the light elves and see if they know of their dark counterparts whereabouts. We figure it may be worth it for the Camille-Varian to come out to retrieve and punish them. Alternately we may be able to bind the others to one of these elves, and if we send him through the portal the rest may end up joining him due to mystical binds. We are also trying to find out if there are any records of what the Master knew about them. They seem very interested in Angel because of his Aurelian ties, perhaps they believe that he knows something threatening to them."

"Okay so possibility number one, we try to lure them out with the promise of torturing their own kind. What's option number two?"

"We use Angel as bait and try to lure them to a portal area in time to throw them in." Wesley said far to rapidly for anyone to understand.

"What? You're going to use me as the bait?" Angel exclaimed.

"What? You could understand him?" Buffy asked.

"Angel, this is only a final, distant, very distant option, did we mention the traitor elves?"

"You know if I didn't know any better, I'd think the Powers were out to get me." Angel said.

"They are not out to get you Mr. Tall Dark and Broody, do you think they want to spend eternity with you and Barry Manilow?" A voice only a few recognized asked.

"Shut up Anya." Xander said mindlessly.

"Sure, they send you back from Hell and everyone acts like its nothing!" 

"Anya?" Xander turned to her, stunned.

"Yes, it is me. Lilah had a prior engagement, and so she sent me."

"How can she send you?"

"Oh, all vengeance demons were sub-contractors for your newly aquired evil empire. We all had contracts, you really should get in better contact with Files and Records."

"Who's that?" Gunn asked Andrew.

"That's Anya, she was a demon who turned human, fell in love with Xander and then returned to her demon ways after her jilted her at the altar, then she gave up her demon ways once again to help us close the hellmouth, she's perfect." He answered with a dreamy look.

"Anya?" Xander asked again.

"Are you blind?" Anya asked, "I mean in both eyes, not just the one."

"No, I-I-I Just can't believe it's you."

"Well here let me tell everyone a very personal and embarassing moment from our sexual lives together to assure you it is me."

"On second thought, it is you." Xander said quickly attempting to stop her.

"Whatever, I was supposed to come up here and find out how your transition is going."

"You look really good." Andrew said.

"Thank you, look, you survived! Glad to know this hole in my side was for nothing!" Anya lifted her shirt to show the large red scar where the bringers knife had entered her, "Back to business people, it's not like I have an eternity up here."

"So what's the deal? Lilah usually comes to tell us something, or at least quip about hell."

"Well, I am supposed to tell Xander that the firm has an apointment for him at this address," she handed Xander a piece of paper, "and he has to be there at 8 am tomorrow. Now that means no hitting the snooze button 'til a minute before you have to be somewhere, this is important, be there on time."

"But what is this about?" Xander asked. "You expect me to go to an address forwarded to me from hell?"

"Yes, I do. Xander Harris, you know I wouldn't send you somewhere if I didn't think you would survive."

"Somehow, that's not nearly as comforting a thought as it should be." Xander smiled.

"On to other things. Charles, you are to go with Xander, I was told you would understand, cos the obcenely large cat told you about this. To which I asked if you had mental instability, Lilah assured me this was not a concern." 

"You talked to a large cat?" Xander asked as he turned to Gunn.

"Yeah, it's not as weird as it sounds man, trust me."

"I should probably be going, there is a karaoke competition this afternoon, and I would like to win."

"You know hell sounds more like some sort of retirement home than actual hell."

"Oh well our hell dimension in a sense is just one really big Wolfram and Hart retirement home for the formerly evil."

"Formerly?"

"Well on this earthly plane they were evil, but in hell we don't like to use terms like 'evil' we prefer to use 'morally challenged.'"

"I can't even believe this." Gunn was shaking his head.

"I'm off, but you may want to take another look at that scroll, and oh yeah Willow, Spike, congrats!"

"Why are you congratulating us?" Willow asked tentatively.

"Well you have both ascended to a higher plane, and for this you should both be congratulated, perhaps with vigourous hand shaking or maybe even with monetary supplementation." Anya responded and telported out.

"What does she mean ascended? Like the Mayor? Will there be snakes involved?" Willow asked Giles looking rather concerned.

"No, Willow, I think I know what she means. Would you and Spike mind doing something for me?"

"'pends on what you are suggesting." Spike answered.

"I would like you to join hands and concentrate on the other."

"O-kay" Willow said as she took Spike's hands in her own, staring into his eyes, and him doing the same.

As they did this they began to levitate. A white, glowing orb developed around them, and tiny bolts of lightning streamed from the orb into them. Willow's hair went white, as did Spike's. They broke their gaze on each other to realize they were floating above the group. Spike could hear Willow clear as day although her mouth didn't move. 

_Holy Crap Holy Crap Holy Crap Holy Crap_

_Willow can you hear me?_

_Yeah Spike, I can hear you, Holy Crap Holy Crap Holy Crap_

_Calm down, lets just think rationally, we got ourselves up here we can get ourselves down right?_

_Sure cos it's every day I levitate!_

_Lets see if we can move. Think about going right_

_Who's right? My right or your right?_

_Didn't think about that, hmm lets go with your right_ As they thought about it, they went right.

_Is it me or is this really cool once you get through the whole 'I can't believe I'm levitating' thing?_

_This is very cool. Red, you should consider bleaching your hair, it's really quite fetching in platinum._

_Hey you're all blonde again too! This is neat!_

_Willow, I think we should think about heading back down, It appears that the lot of them have turned into fly catchers._

_Yeah, okay lets do it. _

They slowly lowered back to the ground, and released their hands. As they did the bubble around them burst sending a wave of energy out to their surrounding friends. The energy didn't knock any of them down, instead it was absorbed by them.

"Did you feel that?" Gunn asked.

"Whoa, that's messed. I feel all juiced up." Faith replied.

"Bloody hell." Giles said.

"Giles what just happened?" Buffy asked.

"They've ascended."

"Uh huh cos that means nothing to me other than large-snake-Mayor."

"Willow is a Goddess, and Spike therefore a God."

"He's a god? This is just unbelieveable! Could the Powers do anything else to ruin my week?" Angel asked the ceiling.

"No, this fares well for you Angel, it means he didn't really fulfill the prophecy. He's a God in human form." Wesley realized.

"Why didn't Whistler mention this? He told us about what Spike was, about the visions and saving Cordy and all that." Faith said.

"He actually didn't tell us what Spike was, she only told us that he carried Cordelia's visions and was more than human."

"But, I'm going to age and die, Mr. Rat pack assured us of this."

"Gods and Goddesses in this dimension age and die like the humans whose form they take. Remember Glory? She was sent here to age and die. She maintained her powers, but was still human, more than human, but still the intent was she was sent here to age and die."

"Spike I understand, being brought back all magickally, but what about me? Why me? Don't they know I have evil tendancies?"

"I think it may have happened when you used the scythe to spread the power of the slayer."

"You looked like one of the Watcher Watchers." Buffy said.

"What?"

"The Guardian, I think she called herself, she was all white haired and ancient, and she said that women like her had made the scythe. Remember? Maybe somehow they put something of themselves in that scythe and when you released its power it ascended you to be like them. Cos when you were floating you really looked like that guardian chick, maybe you are like super-guardian."

"My Buffy, that was," Giles paused, "Very possibly one of the most accurate ideas you've ever had. Perhaps when the last guardian was killed by Caleb, somehow the power was transferred to the scythe, so that when it was tapped, a new guardian was forged."

"A new guardian to watch the new Watchers to make sure all those slayers stay safe n' sound."

"Exactly Faith. Perhaps the Guardian was tied to the Powers, and when the slayer line was guaranteed they needed to assure that there would still be guardians on this plane to protect them. Perhaps that woman had been a goddess as well."

"She didn't act like one, she didn't even know Caleb was there, and she didn't fight him or anything."

"Unlike Glory Buffy, most Goddesses are pacifists, they prefer to not get involved."

"So this means that the prophecy is still mine?" Angel asked eagerly.

"I suppose it is." Wesley responded.

A huge smile passed over Angel's lips. "You know Angel, you're pretty hot when you get all happy." Faith said

"Just as long as this isn't one of those pesky evil turning moments of happiness." Xander added. Angel quickly passed back into his usual stoic look.

"Don't worry the soul is safe, it was just nice to not have everything go poorly for me."

"Now maybe Peaches will get rid of that seething distaste for me."

"Spike, that will never go away." Angel quipped back.

"She also mentioned the scroll." Andrew said.

"What?"

"Anya, she said something about the scroll, how we need to look at it or something. Was I the only one mesmerized by, I mean listening to her?"

"Yes, he is quite right, she did mention that. Andrew how is your Proto-Bantu?" Giles recalled.

"The language? Oh, I'm like brilliant with Proto-Bantu, I'm like Proto-Bantu for dummies."

"Good, I will need you to help me out with the scroll, we have been having some difficulty with it." 

"Yes Obi Wan."

"Bloody Hell" was all Giles could say as he shook his head in near agony at the thought of working with Andrew. Having nothing else to do the group once again went their seperate way, with Angel, Wesley and Fred returning to Wolfram and Hart for further investigation. Lorne, feeling useless, also headed into work hoping to put his skills to actual use. Faith, Gunn and Buffy headed down to the work-out room to train for a while, it was strange for both girls to be working with a very much alive man. Spike went upstairs to put away his things, Willow went up to take a nap, being a goddess takes a lot out of a girl.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note:** Hey All! Thanks for the reviews! I am glad that some of you were happy as clams for Anya's return! I miss her so much so I had to bring back my favorite ex-demon! And of course Spike is a God, I mean we all knew this right? I mean we have seen him without a shirt on, hell we've seen him with not much else on! I also figured it was time Willow got what being the most powerful Wicca in the Western Hemisphere deserved. So here is my promised rapid update as long as you review! Thanks a buncha muncha!

"I know we are in the middle of yet another Apocalypse, but I have a job to do for this firm. If duty calls, I have to answer the phone and schmooze duty until it is happy." Lorne told Angel.

"But Vegas? I mean haven't you already done Vegas?"

"This is Celine Dion, she is one of our top clients; everyone had to know that Titanic song was proof she sold her soul. So now she needs us to renegotiate her contract with the casino, and I'm the head of the department, I have to go."

"How long will this take?" Angel asked.

"Three or Four days. I have to wine and dine the casino execs, take part in the ritual chicken sacrifice, and I feel it is my personal duty to encourage the woman to get extentions. That man-hair is not flattering for a star of her caliber."

"Fine, go, but if we need you here, you have to get back here as fast as possible."

"I'll be back before you can say 'my heart will go on.'" Lorne winked at Angel and picked up his luggage. As he turned to go Angel spoke.

"Hey Lorne?" Angel asked quietly looking around to make sure no one else was around, "Could you get me her autograph? I sort of have a thing for that Titanic song."

"Of course you do sugar, I know this. You'll be the first autograph I have her sign right after her paperwork."

"And Lorne..."

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed, no one will know about your gooey marshmallow center."

"Thanks." Angel said as Lorne turned to head out the lobby to his waiting limosine.

"Where's he going?" Andrew asked as he came downt he stairs.

"He has to go see a client in Las Vegas, he'll be back in a few days."

"Damn, I wanted to learn how to do my hair like his, it's so cool." 

"Right. So how's the translation going?"

"Oh, fine, Giles needs tea, something about his nerves. I figured this was an opportune Jolt and Hot Pocket moment for myself."

"Okay."

* * *

Andew did his best not to spill hot water all over the stairs on his way back up. Balance sadly was not one of his talents. He finally made it to the room with the tea tray.

"Mr. Giles, I didn't know what kind of tea you wanted so I grabbed one of all the tea bags they had in the kitchen." Andrew pulled a wad of tea bags out of the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. 

"Thank you Andrew, that was very... thoughtful of you."

"Whoo, I'm so wired, Red Bull and Jolt make one kick ass combo."

"Terriffic." Giles muttered as he dunked a tea bag into the small pot of hot water.

Andrew sat back down at the table with the scroll spread out on it.

"You know, some of this stuff is straight up not believeable."

"What?" 

"Well, here, in this area it talks about a divine birth, the child of a god and champion. I mean, what is this gonna be like an immaculate conception thing? Wouldn't the child of a god kill the mother?"

"Not if the god were in similar form to the mother."

"Oh, well it talks about this god being some sort of hero, and the champion being of lineage birth. Wow prophecies like to cash in on the 50 cent words."

"What else does it say?'

"Oh you know the vampire with the soul will get to die, but you know that the dead can't die, so it means that the vampire becomes human after many battles and trials and blah blah blah, you get the picture right?"

"Yes, does it say anything else that may be useful?"

"It talks about a battle occuring during the blood moon, between good and evil, modern and ancient, between a champion and those who have challenged his line before. Uh oh."

"What?"

"This isn't good, this is one of those bad prophecies."

"What does it say you little twit?"

"Hey play nice with the translator! It says that the champion will fall." Andrew stopped and looked back over where he was reading, "No, wait, that's wrong, it says that the vampire will fall, the vampire will battle during the blood moon and fall. Vampire, Champion it all sort of runs together after a while you know?"

"Angel?"

"Well, he's the only undead American around here isn't he?"

"Where in the text is this?"

"It's right here," Andrew pointed to some symbols, "Right between the divine birth and battle stuff and the whole vampire with a soul human dealy."

"Well, this isn't looking good."

"Well it could be worse, I mean it could all be death, death, death, but hey we have babies then death, death, death."

"Babies? As in more than one?"

"Well, yeah, it's a possibility right?"

"I guess so. Keep working on this. I need to talk to Buffy and Angel."

"Giles, I think I know what this is all talking about."

"What?"

"I think Angel will be reborn to the god & champion. Now the only god and champion we know that could do that is Spike and Buffy right? Maybe that's why the Powers needed him to come back here so badly. Maybe he was on the road to becoming a god, and closing the hellmouth ruined that, but he was still needed to father Angel so they brought him back, I mean this is possible right?"

"That is possible, it just seems impossible you could put that all together. Does it say anything else?"

"The vampire will fall on the blood moon, and be returned within one year's time. The vampire will fall after suceeding in his final battle in this form." Andrew slowly read, "Oh wait, it says he won't return alone, but he will return with the guide. Who's the guide?"

"I don't know. But I think the blood moon is next weekend."

"Oh before that it says the vampire with a soul must fight his final battle alone for the prophecy to come to true."

"Is there anything else Andrew?" Giles asked with a tinge of impatience.

"Sorry! Proto Bantu isn't known for being very clear on it order, and plus its written from the bottom of the page to the top and I get confused."

"We need to talk to Angel, Buffy and Spike, they all need to know about this immediately."

"Yeah, I'm gonna see if it says anything else about this guide person."

Giles left Andrew with the scroll. The boy was getting twitchy, what Giles could only attribute to too much caffeine and sugar. He wondered if Andrew could be right, that somehow Angel would be reborn courtesy of Buffy and Spike. He almost chuckled at the thought of Spike fathering Angel.

* * *

Gunn and Xander had arrived at the address exactly on time. It was a floral shoppe store front, once inside both men realized that this wasn't the sort of place you pick out daisies for your girlfriend. Once through the front room, they both found themselves in one of Wolfram & Hart's notorious 'for-employees-only' medical facilities. Gunn reassured Xander that what would happen here would be safe, he just knew it, and didn't want Xander to freak out. Both filled out their paper work and after Gunn explained that Xander was a subcontractor for the firm, both men were taken to sperate rooms. Before they explained to Xander what was going on, he was knocked out, not by a fist but with anethesia. Gunn was left awake during his procedure, he had been told this in the white room, but his was not nearly as invasive either. Both men were back in the waiting room, heading to their car before noon. Xander still wasn't sure what they had done to him, and only once they were back in the car did Gunn explain.

"You know what they did to you in there?"

"Not exactly clear on that, like most of my life, I was knocked out before any one told me anything."

"They patched you up, good as new, returned to mint condition."

"I sound less like a man and more like a classic car."

"Well Captain Jack, lets just say your swashbuckling days are over."

"Again, I think, what?"

"Your eye dumbass! They fixed your eye! On second thought maybe we should have had them clean out your ears and upgrade your brain while they were at it."

"They fixed my eye? But my eye was all smashed in and taken out in Sunnydale."

"It's a mystical replacement. They can retrieve your eye from the ether, give it form and put it back in. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to take off the patch, but then it should be good as new."

"Wow, I bet my health insurance doesn't cover that."

"It's covered by the firm, don't worry about it."

"So what did they do to you?"

"They pumped up my brain with legal jargon, basically I took a sort of 2 hour law course and came out with full credentials and even passed my bar exam."

"Why didn't they do that to me, I mean an eye is one thing, but full knowlege of the law, hell you don't need two eyes to be a lawyer!"

"I'm thinking you should be happy with the eye Scooter, and shut up."

"Scooter? Who you calling Scooter?"

"You. I'm calling you Scooter."

"Apparently making you a lawyer didn't make you any more mature."

"Look who's talking!" Gunn and Xander were back at the hotel in no time, they continued to argue as they entered the lobby. "Well maybe with your new eye you will be able to coordinate colors, or do you actually choose to dress like a clown?"

"What the hell? Did the Angry Young Black Men of Greater Los Angeles kick you out of the club, or did you decide to go all freelance on their ass?"

"That's it carpenter-boy, you're gonna get what's coming to you in the form of my fist hitting your new eye!" Before Gunn could get on Xander Buffy was standing between the two of them.

"Now boys, I know it's past both of your nap times, but do I have to put you two in seperate time-out rooms? I am a slayer and I'm not afraid to weild my authority!"

"Sorry, Buffy, Gunn was making fun of me."

"Yeah well you started it wood-boy."

"Gunn, Xander, shut up. Where did you two go?"

"We went to some clinic, they made Gunn a lawyer, which is not fair." Xander started.

"Why did you have to go along?" Buffy asked.

"Because how else were they supposed to give him a brain transplant?" Gunn answered.

"Hey guys, how'd your morning go?"

"Angel, you're up early." Buffy turned to Angel.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep. So what happened this morning?"

"You mean besides the kindergarten war?"

"There was a war at a kindergarten?" Angel asked.

"No, she's talking about us." Gunn put his arms across his chest looking defensive.

"The boys went to some clinic and Gunn became a lawyer, and wait, did you say a brain transplant?" Buffy asked as she turned to Gunn.

"No, they fixed his eye." Gunn huffed.

"Is it an evil eye?" Angel asked concerned, "I mean we all remember Lindsey's evil hand right? The evil hand that was procured from a criminal body parts farm?"

"It's not evil. It's mystical." Gunn responded.

"Oh and that's so much safer!" Angel said.

"No, it's cool, I sort of just knew that it was safe, the big cat wouldn't waste evil on someone so pathetic." Gunn threw a glare at Xander.

"See what I have had to put up with all morning?" Xander asked Buffy.

"Maybe you two should stay away from each other for the rest of the day, no provoking even if provoked okay?" Buffy scolded both men.

"Yes, mom." Xander smiled.

"Good. Angel, Giles and Wesley want to meet with you, Spike and me, we were waiting for you to wake up. So I could go get them and we could find out the deal early?"

"Sure, let me just get something to eat and maybe some coffee."

"You drink coffee?"

"Great Angel high on caffeine, just what I always wanted to deal with." Xander said, Angel threw him a look, "On second thought, I think I should take a shower, wash that evil right outta my hair. Yeah, um, later." Xander rushed away up the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go take a nap, my head is sorta spinning with information, I'll catch up with you later." Gunn left too.

"Why do you have to do that to Xander? You know he fears yet hates you, every time you throw him one of those 'I'm gonna eat you in your sleep' looks he gets all freaked out."

"Yeah, but it's fun, not a lot of people fear me." Angel smiled.

"You're just demented." Buffy smiled, "I'm gonna go tell Giles you're up and grab Spike, we'll meet in your office in like 15 minutes?"

"Sure, see you then." Angel turned towards the kitchen.

"Angel?"

"Yeah Buffy." He didn't turn to look at her, he could hear the drop in her voice.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think this is a cookie you'll get to eat, I mean enjoy."

"It's okay, I sorta knew."

"What? My cookie analogy was flawless!"

Angel turned to her, "I've never had much of a sweet tooth." He smiled at her and walked away.

Buffy sighed, as she walked up the stairs she softly whispered to herself, "Figures."


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: I am glad you guys like what is going on. I write this stuff for you, so its nice to know that you dig. This chapter is LONG, but it had to be cos I got in a groove and couldn't get out. I am sorry updates are taking longer, I'm trying to make the chapters worth the wait! So please continue to review and let me know what you think, I love hearing everyone's opinion! -Adrianna

Buffy stood outside of Spike's room; when she went to knock on the door she noticed it was open. She figured Spike wouldn't throw a fit if she stuck her head in to tell him they were ready. "Spike? Spike are you in here?" She couldn't think of any place else he would be.

"Yeah love, I'm in the shower, be right out!" Spike yelled back from the bathroom. Buffy wandered into the room and sat on his bed. 

"You need some help in there?" Buffy called out with a devilish tone.

"I think I can manage, but I'll keep you posted if anything should arise." Spike said back. Buffy could hear his smile in the words, only two years before he would have been begging her to join him, but now he knew he didn't have to beg..

A few seconds later she heard the water shut off, and soon after Spike came out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel. Buffy felt herself gasp at the sight of him. "Blondie bear has returned!"

"If you keep calling me that, love, you might end up the same way Harmony did, alone." Spike said with a cocked eyebrow and a sly grin. "But about the hair, some habits just die hard. The cheerleader had some bleach in her room, gave it to me before she went to New York, said something about the dark hair not being flattering to my complexion. Sweet girl that Cordelia."

"If I ever hear you refer to Cordelia as 'sweet' again, I will seriously start to think that bleach is eating away at your brain." Buffy laughed. It was strange for the two of them to be so jovial in the face of impending doom. Spike walked over to Buffy, he stopped in front of her and just looked at her.

"What? Is there food on my face? If there is Willow is soo dead..." Buffy started.

"Hardly, love." He leaned in and softly kissed her.

"Mmm, now that was sweet." Buffy smiled.

"Tell no one of this sweetness, no one may ever know!" Spike joked, "I have a reputation to maintain, one which has not yet been marred among gods. I assume you came up here for more than a check on my personal grooming habits, so what's going on?"

"You have grooming habits?" Buffy joked, "Angel's awake, and Giles and Wesley want to meet with us to go over something. I dunno, Giles was pretty vague. Remember when he wasn't so vague?"

"Yeah, I think that was right around the time he planned my demise. Terrific, Peaches was always so pleasant in the morning."

"Why do you call him that?"

"What? Peaches? It's a lot easier than callling him the 'magnificent poof' or 'tall dark and brooding' or 'nancy boy ponce' or..."

"I get the picture. But I still think there is more to it than that."

"And someday you might very well find out. I should probably put on some clothes for the meeting." Spike turned to dig through the bags of new clothes.

Buffy walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around him, putting her cheek against his back, "Personally, I've always thought clothes were highly overrated..."

"Now pet, we wouldn't want to make the other girls jealous, plus there is no need to further shame Angelus or the watcher boys with their inadequecy compared to a man like me." He boasted.

"On second thought, clothes would be good." Buffy stepped back and let Spike get dressed. Then the two of them headed down to Angel's office where they were to meet up with Giles and Wesley. When they walked in Andrew was talking to Giles.

"What's the boy-wanker doing in here? Thought this was a private meeting." Spike asked.

"God! I'm just dropping off some notes for Mr. Giles. I have a X-Files marathon on FX that I can't miss, so if you need anything don't call me." Andrew stated in a far too dramatic tone and exited the room. 

"Where's Wesley?" Buffy asked as she and Spike took a seat next to Angel.

"He figured since I have a better relationship with the two of you, that it might be best if I broke the news."

"The minute news needs breaking I know it can never be a good thing." Buffy remarked.

"Andrew and I have been working with the scroll. He is actually quite useful with the translating, I am some what surprised. We have discovered a series of prophecies regarding the three of you."

"Really? Never been much in the prophecies, generally figured they mostly concerned the two of them" Spike pointed at Buffy and Angel.

"After recent events we believe you may in fact be involved."

"But the Shanshu prophecy?" Angel started.

"Oh, it's clearly about you Angel. It's the events surrounding it that involve Buffy and Spike. We believe we may even know how you will come to be human." Giles said, the hesitation could be heard in his voice, the three could tell he was trying to delay the innevitable.

"Sorry, but what does Angel's future cardiac function have to do with us?" Buffy asked.

Giles took a breath, "Let me explain. Angel, it discusses your upcoming battle with the Camille-Varian. The battle will take place on the night of the blood moon. We will help you prepare in all ways possible, but this battle is yours alone to fight."

"That's not fair, we always help each other out, even in battle." Buffy said.

"A prophecy is a prophecy, we cannot change that." Giles answered.

"Yeah, but a stupid prophecy said the Master was going to kill me, and look, I'm still here."

"The Master did kill you Buffy, remember? The prophecy did come true, it just didn't account for CPR." Angel answered.

"Point taken." Buffy sat back in her chair.

"The prophecy mentions a god and a champion." Giles continued.

"That'd be me, I'm a god." Spike gloated.

"Hey Spike, I forgot to mention, it looks good on you." Angel said

"What my hair? You've seen it like this for decades."

"No, I'm tlaking about your big, fat, swollen, god-head." Angel riffed.

"Guys! Can we let Giles finish before letting this devolve into a pissing contest?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy we have reason to believe you are the mentioned champion, and yes, Spike, we believe you to be the god in question. Both of you will play an integral role in Angel's return."

"Angel's going somewhere?" Buffy asked.

"How come I'm feeling that you're leaving some bits out Rupert?" Spike asked pointedly.

"Angel will win this battle, but it will cost him his life."

"Poor Peaches." Spike said.

"The good news is, he will return in near to one year's time. Buffy, you will give birth to Angel and..."

"WHOA! WHAT GILES?" Buffy yelled before he could finish.

"The prophecy discusses a divine birth between a champion and a god. This conception will eventually result in Angel's return to this plane, he will be joined by someone currently known only as the guide."

"I'm gonna be his father? He ate his last father so I'm not too keen on this fathering Angel idea." Spike said.

"Again I say WHAT? Giles this is impossible." Bufyf said, absolutely stunned.

"Well, it is physically possible now that Spike is in human form."

"No it's not Giles. It's not possible at all." Buffy said.

"Hey my bits and pieces work just fine!" Spike said defensively.

"Lovely Spike, just what I didn't need to know. But Buffy, both of you are young and strong, this should be no problem."

"I can't have children." Buffy slowly said, her voice wavering slightly.

"Yes you can, if Nikki could have Robin..." Giles started.

"Oh yeah! And we all saw how well that worked out!" Spike joked.

"No I mean I really can't have children, I mean in a 'medical impossibility' sort of way."

"Why?" Giles asked.

"When I came back this last time, I mean when Willow brought me back, well, let's just say some things were not functioning as usual. I saw my doctor, and she said something about how I will never be able to concieve or something, I don't remember all of it, I sort of blanked out after she got to the 'no kids' part of our appointment. I told Tara about it, and she said that it may be the reason Spike could hurt me, because not all of me came back. I guess everything does have its consequences, I got back my life, but I will never be able to give life. Tara said that may have been one of those side effects Willow didn't pay attention to."

Spike looked over at Buffy, she had held it together pretty well while telling this truth. Her voice had wavered and a lone tear had streaked down her face. He reached out to hold her hand, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't seem important at the time, I sort of blocked it out, didn't think I wanted to live anyways."

"Well this would be a divine birth, so most likely your actual health condition doesn't matter."

"So I'm gonna have baby Angel?" Buffy asked hopefully.

"From what we can tell you'll have twins."

"Twins? I'm going to be the father of bloody twins?"

"Yes, I think so."

Buffy and Spike looked at each other with smiles. "I guess you're going to be stuck with me for a while, pet."

"Hey, as long as you don't pull a 'Hank Summers, escape artist extrordinaire' I'll be happy."

Giles cleared his throat, "We aren't sure who will be joining Angel. We are still looking into that."

"But isn't this still a little wierd? I mean Darla sired Angel, Angel sired Drusilla, Drusilla sired Spike..."

"Actually I sired Spike, Dru only killed him, she panicked in that last moments, didn't let him drink enough, I finished it off." Angel interrupted.

"Okay, even weirder. Angel sires Spike with Drusilla's help. Angel gets back his soul, then Angel kills Darla. Then Angel loses his soul and goes to hell after it is returned, only to come back as an agent of the first. Some crazy ass lawyers bring human Darla back, only for Drusilla to resire her. Then Spike offers to kill Drusilla, but lets her go, and I think somewhere in there Angel tries to kill both Drusilla and Darla. Then Spike gets back his soul, only to die and come back as a god. And now, Angel is going to be reborn to a slayer and an ex-vampire with a soul turned god. I mean this is far more complex than oy meets girl, girls like boy, boy likes girl, they make baby. Whatever happened to Drusilla and Darla, they aren't still out there are they?" Buffy asked, exasperated.

"Dru's being held by the law firm, they are using her as a seer, she's locked up tight. And Darla staked herself so Connor, I mean Darla is dead, I killed her, again." Angel had tried to cover as quickly as possible. He forgot that no one knew who Connor was, or that he even existed. 

"No one ever said the Powers had linnear thought." Giles said.

"This just seems like a really bizarre round of 'dysfunctional vampire family feud.'" Buffy finished.

"In a way I suppose, but this is what the prophecy says."

"It's why they did it." Angel said out of no where.

"Did what?" Giles asked.

"Why Wolfram and Hart gave me the L.A. Branch. They knew I wouldn't be around long enough to make an impact. They used this scroll to bring back Darla, so they had to know what else it said. It's why they gave me the amulet, they knew Buffy would never let me wear it, that she would give it to Spike."

"I doubt that they knew all of that, I mean Whistler did say the Powers had to rearrange their plans after Spike's demise." Giles said.

"But, if I had died on the hell mouth the prophecy could not have come true and Wolfram and Hart must have known that. This has been a big set up. They gave me the firm because they knew I would disappear, once I am gone they will probably take it back, knowing I am no longer here to keep them in check."

"But Angel even if you're gone or all human, there is me, and Giles, and Wesley and all your people and all my people, like we wouldn't just take your place."

"If you're pregnant they know you can't do anything, it would risk the children, it would risk me. They know you wouldn't let something happen to me."

"But if they knew all of this, then wouldn't they know you won't be coming back alone? I mean maybe they did know all of this was going to happen, but maybe it wasn't a set up like you think. I mean maybe they need you to be human."

"Yeah, so they can kill me much more easily." Angel scoffed.

"Maybe they need the guide." Spike said unexpectedly.

"What?"

"Maybe they don't need Angel at all, maybe he's only the means to an end, maybe they need the guide. The other child, you said it was a guide of some kind. Perhaps they need that."

"We will look into all possibilities. Right now though we need to prepare for the battle. Your friend Gunn can look into what would happen with the firm if you were to die, Angel. Andrew is working on this business regarding the guide. But we still need to find one of these rouge dark elves to find out how to stop the others." Giles said trying to control the situations, a situation which had gotten far more out of control than he had anticpated.

"That we have under control." Gunn's voice came from the door. "Sorry to interrupt, but I got a call from Files and Records, we can grab up one of those elves, he's one of our clients, we've been offering him protection for the last 100 years."

"Why would he need protection? I mean doesn't Wolfram and Hart deal in evil?" Buffy asked Gunn.

"Well, it seems this elf isn't all sunshine and puppies, seems he was an arms dealer, smuggling elf weaponry to demons. He was a supplier for the firm's armory. They keep him safe, he keeps them in weapons."

"Well, we'll see how safe he is when I go to give him a visit." Angel said as he stood up. He turned to Giles, "Let me know if there is anything else you find out about the prophecy, anything that concerns me before battle, other than that I really don't want to know. One more thing, when is the blood moon?"

"Four days, you have four days." Giles replied.

Angel followed Gunn out to the lobby. Gunn gave him a name and an address, asking if Angel wanted help, he refused and asked Gunn to check out his contract. Buffy and Spike sat for a minute with Giles. Then Giles excused himself, to update Wesley on how the discussion went, and what Angel's suspicions were.

"You're going to be a mum." Spike said as he turned to Buffy, still holding her hand.

"Yeah, crazy ain't it?"

"Well I always knew you were one hell of a woman, and that if something like death wasn't going to stop you, there would be little that would."

"You're gonna be a daddy." Buffy beamed at Spike.

"Now, that's even stranger if you asked me, I mean I died near 125 years ago, and even then I doubted I'd ever have a wife or children, and now, I'm a god, with the most beautiful woman in world in my life and I'm going to be a father, apparently the Powers really do like me. Even if they are sending the poof to be my son."

"This is so weird. What do you think we should name him? I mean should we name him Angel?"

"That's putting the cart before the horse a bit now isn't it love?"

"I'm just saying, I mean we have lots of notice."

"William, we'll name him William."

"Um, like he'd like to be named after you."

"No love, his name was William as well, when he was human. Up in Ireland, dreadful people up there, they called him Liam. Sort of a nickname. My mum called me Wills so it's probably more of a regional thing. He'll have his proper human name again, and we'll just pray he isn't the bloody pain in the arse he was for his first set of parents."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Spend a couple of years with nothing to do in the daylight with a bunch of vampires, you'd be surprised what you'll learn. Dru told me a bunch of it, and some more I gathered when Darla was in her 'can't believe the bastard got a soul' phase, she told us a lot about the man she sired, things you never need to know if he didn't tell you himself. I'm not much on gossip, even if it concerns Peaches." Spike replied.

"Oh, come on, just a little, tell me just a little."

"Nope, my lips are sealed. I'm a gentleman, you'd do well to remember that."

"Well, let me see how sealed those lips are." Buffy said as she moved over and sat on Spike's lap. She kisesd him, softly at first, but growing in intensity, eventually they were hungrily taking each other in. She broke the kiss first. "Lips aren't sealed at all, love." She said as she laughed, returning to kiss him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note:** This chapter is LONG, I probably should have broken it in two, but the first half is just silly fun, and the second half was important. I couldn't break that up. Plus think of it as a gift for all the wonderful reviews and all the joy and inspiration they bring to my life! Sorry about the formatting, I'm doing this on a different program and its kinda wonky. Hope you enjoy the twist, and please don't forget to review. I love to know what my readers think, so even if you hate it, let me know!!!

"Girl, they might have filled him up with lawyer-y goodness, but I got somethin' right here he can fill up." Faith remarked as she watched Gunn.

"Faith! You are such a perv!" Buffy pushed her fellow slayer. They had been sitting downstairs watching the guys spar. Wesley and Giles thought training would be good for all of them, if anything to burn off some of the energy they were all building up too much of. Neither could have imagined the peanut gallery the two girls would make.

"Come on! Look at his body; he's like an ebony god. All muscle-y in the right places, that shaved head, that…"

"Please stop right now, I need to know nothing more."

"You know I thought Robin had it goin' on, but damn Gunn's fine!"

"I think you were locked up for too long without male companionship."

"A girls gotta get her kicks where she can, and you know what they say. Once you go black, you never go back."

"Oh, OH! That's what that was about? Oh God, Principal Wood?!"

"Please I heard about you're little date, like you weren't eyeing him up."

"No, it was to find out if he was evil, not cos I had trouble controlling my drool reflex around him."

" Uh huh, whatever. Please, you don't even need to look around, I mean, Spike. Yowzas! He's one pretty piece of flesh. Bet he's not much on the vanilla either."

"Okay, please lets just stop, cos I really don't want to know what's going on in your head, and please whatever it is, make Spike have nothing to do with it."

"Come on B! Please, I know what kinda girl you are, we aren't as different as you'd like to think." Faith remarked and winked at Buffy.

"Girls, The floor is all yours." Angel, Gunn and Spike were done, and moving to the sidelines. "Ooo slayer versus slayer, this is gonna be hot!" Gunn sat down, almost as pumped as he was when fighting.

"Yeah, nothing like a good chick fight to get the blood pumping, right Angel?" Spike asked.

"Old news, seen these two go at it before. It usually doesn't end pretty."

"Who cares how it ends, I just wanna watch it go down." Gunn got comfortable. "Come on ladies, we ain't got all day."

Buffy turned to Faith, "Sounds like you got yourself fan club."

"Oh really?" Faith jumped down, "Well, I guess we'll have to put on a good show, hate to disappoint the fans.

Buffy jumped down after her, and after they had both done some stretching they looked at each other. "You gonna hold back on me?"

Not a chance in the world sister. Can't let down our game now that we aren't the chosen two."

"Fine, Bring it on." The girls started circling each other, the energy between them nearly tangible.

"Those two have a history don't they, and I'm not talkin' a good history. Gunn asked Angel.

"You're not wrong. Faith was in prison for a reason."

"Nice."

"Buffy stabbed her once. Faith switched their bodies and had sex with Buffy's boyfriend, came on to me like a vixen out of hell, those two _have_ history." Spike added.

"Come on B! You're not even trying! What do I have to do to get you to put your heart in it?" Faith was chiding her.

"Keep talking and I might feel inspired." Buffy jumped up and launched herself at Faith, kicking her in stomach and knocking her down. "Come on Faith, get up, it's no fun if you don't play along."

Faith kicked out and jumped back up, laughing. She started punching at Buffy, Buffy easily blocking each one as if she could see them before they happened, just as Buffy was settling in, Faith crouched down and swept her legs out from under her. She then straddled Buffy, grabbing her hands and pinning them above her head. 

"Whoa, hot girl on girl action, that's what I'm talkin' about! Now this is the way to break in a new eye!" Xander wandered in to see the two girls down on mats, he settled in next to Gunn. "How long they been goin' at it?"

"Not even 5 minutes."

"Oh, then it's just barely started. You know uh, me and Faith..." Xander said with innuendo.

"You and Faith? _Please_, she'd break you in two!" Spike laughed.

"She nearly did if I remember correctly." Angel added.

"Foreplay, nothing more than foreplay." Xander said remembering when Faith nearly killed him, strangling him.

Faith leaned into Buffy, "So are you the bottom or the top? Cos I'm thinkin' you're a bottom. So this position has gotta be familiar, do you guys use handcuffs or just rope? See me, not so into the Japanese rope work, but Spike's been around for a while so I can see where he could pick it up and master it..."

"Faith you're sick, you're so sick." Buffy spit in her face.

"Oh B, come on, I'm just playin!" Faith leaned in and licked Buffy cheek, "But that doesn't mean I have to play fair." Faith pushed off and let Buffy get up.

"Did you see that? She licked her! She freakin' licked her! Damn, I gotta go get Willow, she's gonna love this! ' Xander got up to go find her.

"Willow?" Gunn asked.

"Let's just say she would rather watch the two of them roll around on the mats than us. She's a friend of Sappho."

"Sappho?"

"Doesn't anyone read any more, bloody hell! She's a lesbian!"

"Oh, I thought she was just a witch."

"You are in so much trouble, you don't even know." Buffy got up, with fury glinting in her eyes. She charged Faith, and when Faith ran up the wall Buffy expected it, and turned around to knock her down. She hit Faith with so much force that the girl flew across the room, falling into a heap. Buffy back flipped to where Faith was lying, rolling her onto her back.

"Was there any more licking? Did we miss more licking?" Xander asked as he and Willow ran back in, both of them panting.

"Not yet, but it looks like someone's out for her revenge."

Buffy sat on Faith, mimicking her. She grabbed Faith's wrists, jerked on her arms, and pinned them down. "How does it feel?"

"Not too bad, a little to the left, and you might send me over the edge." Faith mocked Buffy.

"What did you expect me to do?"

"Expect? Not much, but since you're up there, mostly I want you to wriggle."

"This is where the licking happened last time!" Xander told Willow.

Buffy leaned in close to Faith, putting her mouth to her ear. "Don't fuck with me Faith, I'm not the little girl you used to know. And for your information, I'm more of a switch, so you should be careful, don't want me to have to whip you into shape." Faith's head had been turned toward the crowd of onlookers.

"B, we've got a captive audience."

"What?" Buffy turned to look too. "Oh god, look it's like a fly trap colony!" All of their friends' mouths were agape, staring. Even Spike was aghast, which made Buffy laugh inside. "When did this become sexual, cos they aren't watching for the valuable combat skills."

"I think it was sexual before we even got out here. You know guys…"

"But Willow?"

"Um, you do remember she likes girls, right B?"

"Yeah, but us?"

"Notably, we are of the feminine persuasion, secondly, we're hotties."

"I'm thinkin' less bare hands, more weapons training."

"I'm with you… hmm quarter staff?"

"Big stick? A big giant phallic stick to add to the overt sexual metaphor? Sounds good." Buffy got up with a smile, walking over to the wall, tossing a staff at Faith. Both girls started going at it again. This time with more grace, more agility.

"They've stopped fighting." Spike broke the group silence.

"Uh, Dead boy, do you need an eye replacement?" Xander asked.

"They're dancing." Spike smiled and leaned back, "There's a point when it stops being a fight and it becomes a dance, those two, crossed that barrier a while ago."

"Houston we have a problem." Andrew jumped up from the table, scaring Giles half to death. He reread the passage he had been looking at, realizing he wasn't wrong. "Giles! Mr. Giles!"

"What is it? You look as though your entire action figure collection has been reduced to one large plastic glob."

"God no! That would mark the beginning of an apocalypse! This is bad, but not that bad! We have to get Buffy and Spike out of town immediately. If we could go back in time, I would say it should have been done yesterday."

"Why? We just got here."

"Unless you want Angelus to eat his future mamma, you might want to get them out of town."

"Angelus? What?"

"The one with the Angelic face? Ring any bells? It says that the vampire with the soul who will fight in the battle, you know the drill, well he has to lose his soul before he dies."

"What?"

"The Guide, I don't know who she is, but she's defiantly a she, she needs to be able to gather his soul from the ether and tether it to herself before conception."

"But once he is dusted his soul will be released."

"Yeah, to hell. Which is where the guide can't gather it. See, I guess the human he was before he was Angel or Angelus, or well, the human. Yeah the human he was wasn't exactly a nice guy. The soul he has, was manufactured by those gypsies so he would feel remorse, cos I'm thinkin' his human wouldn't be so much with the guilt. So unless you want to bring some creep back into this world, we have to release his soul before the battle."

"But how will we know he'll even fight then? Angelus is highly unpredictable, and capable of damn near anything." Giles was disturbed, Andrew was far too good at this for either of their good.

"And he remembers everything Angel does and says and knows. Which means he'll know about the rebirth, and Buffy and Spike, he knows the prophecy, Angelus will kill both of them to prevent it from happening. I mean even you said that you had never seen evil in as pure a form as Angelus. I think it was 'I have never seen the vacancy and evil so apparent until I looked into the void of Angelus' eyes.'"

"When did I say that?"

"In your watcher's journal thingy. You left it out, so I took a peek when you were down stairs. I liked the part about Buffy brutalizing the English language and being a wretched undisciplined nightmare." Andrew laughed, "But from what you wrote, we don't want Buffy or Spike anywhere near L.A. when we unleash Angelus. The man went after poor, defenseless fish! Who knows what he's capable of?"

"Fish?"

"Yeah, Willow's fish, he killed them for no good reason but to put terror in her fragile little heart. If you asked me he sounds like a grade-A creepazoid. That and the murdering of Miss Calendar and the whole torturing you thing."

"You are a strange little man."

"Back on track here Rupes. We need to set Angel's soul free, release it into the ether. The guide will snatch it up from the ether, Angelus will send the elves away and yet another apocalyptic like event will be averted."

"That's why he must die." Suddenly something hit Giles.

"What?"

"It is a metaphor. Angel's body won't die; his soul has to be set free. It's a metaphoric death; the vacancy of the soul is essentially the end of life."

So we're gonna let the fishy killer roam free post-battle? Cos, I wanna veto that idea."

"This isn't a democracy Andrew."

"Yeah, well it isn't a Watchocracy or a Slayocracy either! I don't wanna end up like the fishes!"

"I need to talk to Buffy and Spike. Find Willow, she maybe able to help remove the spell and then destroy Angelus. I'll send Wesley up, he and Faith stopped Angelus last time, so perhaps he has insight on how to control him. God knows without Buffy here we have no chance to control him with out Faith, which is a frightening notion I will now block." Giles left the room. Andrew crept over to the bookshelf. Giles called from the hallway, 'And keep your bloody hands off my Journal, if you want one to read, steal Wesley's!"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   


	21. Chapter 21

**Authors Note:** Look what happens when everyone reviews! Everyone gets a chapter much more quickly, and a LONG chapter at that!!! I'm gonna be gone Wednesday thru Saturday with absolutely no computer acess (my parents live in the dark ages, I mean they just got a DVD player!), but lucky for all of you, I can still write on paper like they used to do in the good old days, which means all you have to wait for is me to type it up. Trust me that's nothing! I hope all my fellow Americans have a terrific Thanksgiving with much by means of turkey coma. I know one thing I'll be thankful for is terrific readers who help me keep writing, cos all my real world friends find my fanfic hobby to be a bit on the wierd. To all my international readers, umm, yeah, have a great Thursday? I promise more Spuffiness, and a face from the very very very far back past in Buffy's life. Will you join me? Will you review to make my life complete?

Giles retrieved Buffy and Spike from the make shift training room.

"This better be good Rupert, cos you can't pay for entertainment like that, and I should know." Spike said.

"I need the two of you to trust me. Giles had taken them out into the lobby, the room was all but abandonded.

"The last time you said something to that effect, it lead to the Robin Wood school of vampire deprogramming and dust pan filling." Buffy objected.

"I'm serious Buffy." The drop in Giles tone let both of them know he wasn't screwing around.

"Fine, out with it then. I'd like to let the ladies return to their training for a bit more."

"You two have to leave L.A. immediately. Tell no one where you are going and do not return until you hear from me."

"What? Why?" Buffy asked.

"Let's just say Angel's life depends on it."

"Oh well, bugger that, I'm not moving a muscle if that's the case."

"I mean you have to leave for the safety of your unborn children. Not the current Angel's life, that is not your concern."

"Giles, where will we go? I mean it's not like everyone we know isn't here. Don't really have many out of town friends. I mean I guess I could see if Riley and Sam are back in Iowa, but I really doubt it."

"We are not shacking up with Mr and Mrs. Captain Cardboard!"

"One of you has to have friends outside of the L.A. area." Giles insisted.

"Well I know some..." Spike started.

"You will so not finish that sentence, ever. No demons, no kitten poker..." Buffy interrupted.

"But what about Clem?"

"Oh My God! Poker! That's it! I know where we can go. Don't worry about it, I've got a plan."

"Say your good byes and get out of here. The sooner you are gone the safer it will be for both of you."

"But what about the battle? I'm thinkin' a slayer and a god might come in handy." Buffy said.

"Yes, but even if the two of you are gone, we have both of those here."

"Faith and Willow, forgot about that." Spike admitted.

"How will you contact us?" Buffy asked.

"Spike and Willow share a connection, I can send word through her to him when it is safe to return." Giles said.

"Um, hate to be Ms. Obvious, but how are we supposed to get away? I don't think the big yellow school bus is covert enough." Buffy asked.

"I had Winifred get a car and some cash for you." Giles handed Spike a set of keys and Buffy an envelope of money. "This should last you until we need you to come back. Leave no trail behind. If you have ot check into a hotel, don't do it under your own name. Do whatever you have to do, just stay hidden." Buffy could detect the tone of worry in Giles voice.

"I'm not too keen on this." Spike said.

"I didn't ask you to be keen, I asked you to get the hell out of town!" Giles blew up at Spike.

"Okay, Okay, sorry Rupert."

"I'm gonna go get my stuff and say good bye to Dawn and the gang." Buffy got up, hugged Giles, and told him she would see him soon. She left.

"So Giles, what's really going on here?" Spike asked Giles once Buffy had left the room.

"If I tell you, you can't utter a word of what I'm about to tell you. I'm only telling you because you are the only person here who will understand the true seriousness of this matter."

"Secret's safe with me, you know that."

"We have to release Angel's soul."

"Which means you have to let Angelus out to play. Oh Christ, you're going to have your hands full."

"Yes, if we don't we can't guarantee that Angel will return."

"I don't want to know what happens if Angel's soul is left where it is do I?"

"No."

"'nuff said. Don't need to hear a spot more. Spent plenty of time with Angelus, don't fancy any more. I'll get Buffy out of town. Her scent trail should fade out within 24 hours, he won't be able to track her after that."

"That was the intention."

"One question."

"What?"

"What happens when Angelus is done with the elves? What ar eyou going to do with him? You know you can't let him loose on society. He'll make short work of all those young new slayers we sent out there, and the time they spend with him will make what he did to you look like Christmas."

"We're working that out now."

"Well, if you need my help with anything, send word thorugh the witch and I'll let you know if I can think of anything. See you later Rupes, take care of them. And remember if anything happens to Dawn, You'll have one pissed off God on your hands."

"I know." Giles said as Spike turned to leave. "Spike? Take care of her."

"You know I will, with every breath in my body, as long as I live she will be safe.

* * *

Spike and Buffy were out of the hotel and on the road within an hour. 

"Eww I'm all stinky and sticky and ick, I should have showered."

"It's alright love, I don't mind, remember, my vamp smell abilities have been reduced, so as long as I'm not retching..."

"Spike!" Buffy playfully jabbed him in the side.

"One of these days we're going to teach you to drive. I don't fancy bein' your chauffer for the rest of time."

"Aww, but you'd look so cute in one of those monkey suits, with the little hat, and the gloves..."

"Wore a monkey suit the first 26 years of my life, so you'll have to kill me first."

"From the mouths of gods..."

"So, where we headed to pet?"

"Vegas."

"What?"

"Vegas, I have a friend there. Well I hope he's still there. Haven't seen him in over 7 years, but if I know him, he's still there." Buffy said.

"A friend I don't know about? Who is she?"

"He, it's a he. He was sort of a proto-Scooby. He was the only non-watcher who knew about the slayage. His name is Pike."

"Sorry love, but Pike isn't a name, it's a fish."

"No, it's his name, and he'll be able to offer us protection, well I mean he can protect himself, so he's one less person to worry about. Plus I have a creeping suspicion that the two of you will get along perfectly." Buffy pulled out her cell phone. "I gotta get his number, cross your fingers, if he isn't there, I don't know where the heck we're gonna go." Buffy dialed 4-1-1, "Las Vegas, Nevada please. Norbert, Norbert Pike."

"His first name is Norbert?"

"Why do you think he'd rather go by the name of a fish?" Buffy asked Spike, "What? Okay thanks." Buffy scribbled down a number and hung up the phone. "I knew it! He's still there!"

"Terrific." Spike could hear in Buffy's voice that she wasn't telling him everything he needed to know about this Pike character. Before he could object she had started dialing his number.

_"Yellow"_ A some what groggy voice said.

"Hi, is Pike there?" Buffy asked.

_"You got him."_

"Pike, it's Buffy."

_"Buffy? As in Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer?"_

"That'd be me."

_"I thought you were dead."_

" I was, twice."

_"Word travels fast about the death of a slayer. Apparently rising from the dead is not high on the gossip agenda. Wait, you're not a.."_

"Vampire? No, I am very much with the pulse having."

_"Phew, didn't want to have to stake another undead friend. So what's up? Seven years, you don't write, you don't call..."_

"I need your help. Me and a friend need to hide-out for a while."

"Friend? I'm you're bloody destiny!" Spike said a little too loudly.

_"Did you get abducted by Johnny Rotten?"_

"Who? Johnny Rotten? No, that's Spike."

_"No, I'm Pike, unless I've got a clone out there."_

"Not Pike, Spike, with an S."

_"What?"_

"You could always call him William the bloody, but I hear he prefers to go by 'your radiant magnificence.'" Buffy laughed.

"And don't you forget it!" Spike said looking at her.

_"I don't think I want to know, you can explain it when you get here. Youknow I'm good for a place to crash as long as you don't mind the couch and floor."_

"You're an absolute life saver."

Spike murmmured under his breath, "if you only knew..."

Buffy wrote down an address and some directions. "Thanks Pike, we should be there in just a couple of hours."

_"I expect a full recap."_

"I don't think you do, but I'll let you in on the finer points. Later." Buffy hung up the phone.

"Now I know he wasn't just some proto-Scooby, so out with it."

"He was my partner in crime."

"What? You as a criminal? I shudder to think." Spike mocked her.

"Who do you think helped be burn do my old high school's gym after defeating lothos? Like I am capable of that sort of destruct-o-rama on my own."

"I've seen you take down a building." Spike replied with a wicked grin.

"Again, I had help."

"Point. So you took out Lothos? He had it coming if you asked me. Good job."

"You knew Lothos?"

"Ponce owed me 50 pounds and two tabbies."

"Who doesn't owe you money?"

"Hmm... You?"

"But yeah, Pike helped me when I was first called, after Merrick died, we sort of became a vampire fighting duo. After the burning of the gym, we ran off to Vegas. I left him there and went back to L.A., where lucky me, I found out my parents were getting a divorce and I was moving with mom to Sunnydale."

"Merrick?"

"My first watcher."

"You mean Giles was your second watcher?"

"Yeah, and technically Wesley was my third, I mean how many slayers go through that many watchers!" Buffy laughed.

"Why did you never tell me any of this?"

"It really wasn't relevant when I transferred to Sunnydale. I tried to leave my juvenile delinquency behind. I kinda forgot about Pike, until today, when it hit me, he was probably right where I left him. Vegas has a reasonable vamp population, and he likes to help the forces of good whenever he can."

"You and Pike?"

"Were we like together? I guess, it was confusing. I mean I just got called, and all my friends couldn't know. I didn't really have anyone except this really annoying grunged out rock guy who knew my secret, so he was really all I had. It wasn't like Sunnydale where I had Will, and Xander. I didn't have any help except Pike. When he showed up at the spring dance, he was like this knight in shining armor, well not armor, more like leather jacket, but still. He helped me fight the vamps and Lothos, and he wasn't afraid of me. I was afraid of me, I mean I was all of a sudden super strong and super fast and I could pick football players up, but Pike wasn't scared of me. It meant something to me. He was what I needed at the time. It was by no means love, but we were kinda together in a life or death, fighting the forces of evil and making out a bunch afterwards sort of way."

"Terrific."

"No, don't worry, you have nothing to be worried about, Pike is old news, really old news. News so old you line bird cages with it." Buffy scooted across the seat to sit right next to Spike, "You know you were right."

"Of course, but about what would I be right about this time?"

"You are my destiny, I could never leave you, not now, not that I know how important we are. Plus, I love you, and that means something to me."

Spike wrapped his arm around her, and kissed the top of her head. "I know, and I love you, I've always loved you. I think from the first moment I laid my eyes on you I knew it. I couldn't kill you. I had so many chances, but I just couldn't do it. I will love you until the last breath escapes my lips, and even then I'll probably haunt you 'til you follow suit. If anything cos I think it'd be fun to be a ghost, follow you about, move your tea cup that sort of thing. I'll always love you,a nd that is something you can depend on."

Buffy snuggled closer to him, "If I fall asleep wake me up before we get there."

"Of course." Spike gave her a squeeze and continued driving. he felt her relax and then the tell tale breathing pattern let him know she was asleep. He would keep her safe no matter what he had to do. 


	22. Chapter 22

AN: Sorry this has been a long time coming, but it's long, so I think that's fair! Enjoy, and remember reviews don't grow on trees so I can't just pick them up anywhere. ;)  
  
It was still dark when they hit Vegas. Well as dark as it can be with that much neon. Spike woke Buffy up when they hit the strip. Her face lit up as they passed the casinos.  
  
"Oo That one wasn't here when I was here last! The names are so exciting, the Venetian, the Bellagio, Paris, New York, New York, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, it's like I can travel all over the world, without even leaving the desert!" Buffy exclaimed as she looked out the window. Spike had rarely seen her this excited about anything, except maybe that Thanksgiving at Giles house, when she was insistent everything were perfect. But even then it was more of nervous excitement; this was unadulterated joy.  
  
"Hate to break it to you, but for one, Egypt's got about the same amount of sand, but far less of the blinking lights and ringing bells. Paris, well it's a lot larger, and the damn Eiffel Tower isn't that short. This is more like a microcosm of the world.  
  
"Don't ruin my fun, this is as close to seeing the world as I'll ever get you party poop."  
  
"Pet, when's the last time you went on holiday?"  
  
"One summer I went to my dad's for like 2 weeks, but I had to hang with his tarty new girlfriend and she was like 6 years older than me, plus I had to drag Dawn around. And after I killed Angel I moved to L.A. for a while and was a waitress, but I guess that was less like a vacation and more like an escape. Heaven, can't forget heaven, that was a vacation, I mean I was dead, but still no worries." Spike glared at her, "Fine, I don't think I've been on a real vacation since I was called."  
  
"Well, it's about time you did, and I've got a pocket full of cash willing to agree."  
  
"That money is for food and stuff. Plus it's evil money."  
  
"Evil or not love, Rupert gave it to us to spend, no reason to not enjoy it."  
  
"Yeah but it's from that law firm, and they are way evil. You know my position on evil, it's a birthright not a choice."  
  
"But you could make it non-evil money by spending it on things for a good person like yourself."  
  
"That's twisted Spike-logic."  
  
"Spike-logic involves you at the Venetian shopping through all those little designer places spending oodles of cash on fancy kicks and knickers."  
  
"Spike-logic is not seeming as bad as previously presumed. Oh, don't miss the turn, it's right here." Buffy pointed at a road leading off of the strip, to the seedier and less pleasant parts of Vegas.  
  
"So Pike likes to live the high life does he?"  
  
"Your sarcasm is not welcome here. Pike is like a valet or a janitor or something at one of the hotels. Well, I predict he is, I mean he used to fix cars, but after L.A. he moved into the unskilled labor market so he could have his nights free."  
  
"Most mechanics don't work at night, love."  
  
"I know, it was more of a grease issue, it got every where and no one likes to smell like Valvoline."  
  
"Right." Spike sighed, and lit up a cigarette.  
  
"Hey Mr. Coffin Nail, put that out, you have lungs now, and there's no need to make them black. I predict they are like pearly white, or pearly pink lungs, all clean, so you shouldn't smoke and make them icky and death filled."  
  
"It's cute when you're concerned about my health."  
  
"Cute? I could get violent about it and make it not cute at all. Plus, babies."  
  
"Babies?"  
  
"You aren't planning on slowly killing our children with your stinky habit?"  
  
Spike rolled his eyes, it almost made Buffy laugh out loud. "Jesus, it's like marriage but without all the tax deductions. Bloody hell, do I have to pay taxes now?"  
  
"I think we can work around the taxes if you toss the sticks of death."  
  
"Fine." Spike threw the pack out the window.  
  
"Hey litter-bug much?"  
  
"Can't fix everything 'bout me. If you did you wouldn't be attracted to my sparkling personality."  
  
"This battle is done, but the war is far from over Mister." Buffy smiled, "Plus think of it this way, you need those lungs for other things now, I mean how do you expect to keep up with me?" Her smile turned wicked.  
  
"Remember, God here, pretty sure I could give you a run for your money. Remember Glory? All that power? Now imagine it redirected in more creative ways."  
  
"You're a pig, Spike."  
  
"The more things change, the more things stay the same."  
  
"Okay, so I think we are gonna need something other than, this is the prophetic father of my ex-boyfriend story, to tell Pike. I don't think he needs to know everything."  
  
"Don't you trust him pet?"  
  
"It's been seven years, I need to feel him out a bit."  
  
"You will be doing no such feeling at all."  
  
"The only person I plan on feeling up is you." Buffy said with a wink.  
  
"So what're you going to tell him?"  
  
"That you're my boyfriend, and that you used to be a vampire, but are now a way powerful god who shouldn't be fucked with. If that doesn't scare him into behaving I don't know what will."  
  
"Language, language, what would the bit say about that?"  
  
"I am still living with the denial that Dawn has ever heard such words, and I would prefer to live in my blissful ignorance. Stop, it's right here."  
  
The building they stopped in front of was one of the nicer ones in the neighborhood. Actually it looked like the only one anyone had bothered to keep up. It was a small bungalow, probably a throw back to when the city was first built, and the mobsters needed a place to house their labor. A youngish man walked out onto the porch. He was a bit older than Buffy, and scruffy, even a bit on the rough side. Spike didn't like him, but he didn't hate him either, the Harley parked in front of their car was reason enough for him to like Pike. Buffy jumped out of the car without hesitation.  
  
"PIKE!!! Oh my God!!" She screamed as she threw herself into his arms.  
  
"Hey Buff, nice to see you too." Pike hugged her back tightly; a tinge of jealousy was aching in Spike's gut. He automatically went for a cigarette, forgetting he had thrown them out.  
  
Buffy let go quickly and led Pike down the stairs leading him by the hand. "Pike, this is Spike."  
  
"Who let Billy Idol loose?"  
  
"Actually, Billy idol modeled his look after Spike," Buffy looked up at Spike, "and I've already said too much."  
  
"Hey man, nice to meet you. I'd like to say I've heard nothing but rave reviews about you, but I'd be lying." Pike extended his hand to Spike. Buffy elbowed Spike to accept the greeting.  
  
"Likewise." Spike was putting up his best Big Bad impersonation.  
  
"We better grab your stuff and head inside, this neighborhood isn't the best after dark."  
  
"Of course why would you live anywhere else?" Buffy joked.  
  
"The danger here is more of the human variety, not demonic sadly."  
  
"Bummer, just when I was thinking how much I'd like to kill something." Spike muttered under his breath.  
  
"Oh, you're in the trade too?"  
  
"The trade, mate?"  
  
"Demon hunting, vampire slaying, evil destroying, you know, like Buffy, but without the destiny or super powers"  
  
"In a sense."  
  
Pike helped them with their bags into the house. Spike already knew this was going to be interesting, he only hoped they wouldn't have to stay here the entire time.  
  
* * * *  
  
Giles paced the lobby of the Hyperion. He wasn't sure what to do, he wasn't even sure he should have sent them away. Wasn't it only weeks ago they closed a Hellmouth? Wasn't that enough world saving for one year?  
  
"Giles, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were in some sort of trance, a pacey, nose bridge rubbing trance."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Giles, what's wrong?" It was Willow; Giles knew he would have to tell her eventually, but now? He just wasn't sure.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Why are Buffy and Spike going on a vacation? I mean, I know they need some alone time, but I think their timing officially sucks."  
  
"I sent them away."  
  
"Have you fallen off your rocker!?"  
  
"I resent that accusation!"  
  
"I just mean, are you crazy? We have evil elves, and babies and prophecies, and all sorts of stuff, we need them here!"  
  
"Actually Willow, we need them far, far away."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Giles was trying to contain his inner Ripper, it was getting harder the more he thought about the current situation. He was mad, angry, and still a bit unsure about what they had to do.  
  
"I might as well tell you now. You will have to be involved soon anyways."  
  
"I have to be involved? This can't be good." Willow sat down on one of the lobby's round couches.  
  
"I will need you to remove Angel's soul before the battle begins."  
  
"I put the soul in him remember? I remember Angelus, I don't think it's smart to let him loose on a hotel of his alter-ego's friends."  
  
"It's a part of the prophecy. Andrew discovered it earlier today. We have to release Angel's soul so the guide can pull it from the ether and tether it to herself."  
  
"Herself? The guide's a she?"  
  
"Well from what Andrew can tell, and I can't believe it, but he is very good at working with the prophecy, the guide is referenced in the feminine sense."  
  
"Hmm. Okay. But what are we going to do with Angelus? I mean we can't keep him on a leash like a puppy. Well, I suppose we could, but I doubt it would work as well as planned. Last time he was so out of control that they had to call me in to resoul him, and even then Faith had to drug him to get him back here. What are we going to do? I mean we can't resoul him, and the only one who's had success killing him was Buffy, and that was probably because of the soul. I mean Giles, this is bad, and what if he doesn't cooperate?"  
  
"I can take him." Faith walked out of the office area.  
  
"How long have you been there?" Giles demanded. "Long enough to know that the big bad is coming to town, and I'm pretty sure that much like Santa, he's got a list of who's been naughty and nice. Those on the nice list aren't going to fare as well as they would if it were jolly old Saint Nick."  
  
"Giles, Faith took him down last time, I was here I know."  
  
"Yes with the use of some high dose mystical psychotropic drugs. We can't risk him having a chance at getting that close, of biting Faith."  
  
"So what, we tell him that the evil elves, are really the good guys, so he decides to kill them for us. Us being the 'evil' law firm that was handed to Angel on a platter. If we put the thoughts in Angel's head before any of this starts Angelus will believe it. Afterwards, her benevolence over here, works the mojo makes him unable to move, I run a nice fat splinter through his chest, and ta-da! No more Angelus. You act like this is complex." Faith scoffed.  
  
"Well, when you put it like that. no it isn't!" Giles was upset.  
  
"Is this cos B and her love bunny left? Are you mad that they skipped town?"  
  
"He made them leave town." Willow told Faith.  
  
"Oh, well I say we get this show on the road. The sooner the better."  
  
"Faith it isn't that simple, there is ritual and time frames, and just too much information to process in just a few days!"  
  
"Well freakin' over it ain't helpin' no one G. So why doesn't Willow work on her powers of persuasion to plant a few seeds in dear Angel's brain, and why don't I prepare the cage? Then when the time comes at least something will be set up." Faith walked out of the room without another word.  
  
"Giles is it a sign of the apocalypse that I think Faith's idea sounds like a good starting point?"  
  
"No Willow, it's a sign of the apocalypse because I think that. Maybe we should start there, and see what else we can do."  
  
"Wow, it just feels so weird to think that Faith had a logical thought."  
  
"Yes, now let us never think of this moment again." Giles smiled at Willow, and she smiled back. Both concerned about what was about to happen, but both knowing there wasn't much that could prevent it, and relenting to the fact that they had too few days to prepare. 


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: **I am the worst writer ever. Why? Because I haven't updated in like a decade!! I appologize fair readers!! I promise more rapid updates on all stories. My goal is one chapter per week between all my stories! But reviews have a tendancy to make me work at twice the speed!

"Cordelia? Yes, it's Wesley." Wesley had called the phone they gave her.

"Wesley! Oh my god! The Hamptons is everything I've dreamt of! Kennedy's house has wings, like east and west wings! And servents, and wow being rich is better than I remember!" Cordelia sound as if she would burst at any moment.

"Well I'm sorry to ruin your fun, but I need you to come back for a day or two. I've called the airline, your ticket will be at the United counter, can you get to JFK by this evening?"

"Hold up, wait a minute. First it's 'sure Cordy have your well deserved vacation' now it's 'come home;' what's going on Wes? Is it another apocalypse, cos didn't we just get through with one?"

"It's Angel." Wesley was hoping that somewhere inside of her she remembered all the feelings she had for him.

"Is he okay?"

"Currently, yes."

"But futurely he won't be?"

"It's a distinct possibility."

"Jesus, five minutes with Giles and you've turned back into poncy head-boy watcher Wesley. Speak human!"

"I wanted you to have a chance to say good bye." Cordelia could hear the drop in his voice.

"Is he going on a trip? I'm hoping it's not a Bahamas cruise, cos that definately won't end well." Cordelia was trying to lighten the conversation up.

"No Cordelia. I am being serious. Angel will be going away for a while, so if you want to say good bye you need to come home. Now."

"Going away where?"

"I'd rather not discuss this on the phone."

"Wesley, what in the hell is going on?!?!"

After a pause and a sigh Weslye replied, "We have to unleash Angelus, and we can't resoul him afterwards. We have to kill him." Wesley could hear Cordelia's audible gasp.

"I'll be on the next flight out."

"We'll have a car pick you up."

"Thanks for letting me know, and I'll see you soon Wesley." Cordelia abruptly hung up the phone.

"Do you think that was a good idea?" Gunn's voice came from behind him.

"Angel loves her deeply, and she cares a great deal about him, it wouldn't have been fair to not let her say good-bye."

"And when he kills her first, we'll know who to blame."

"Gunn, we did this last year."

"I remember how well that turned out, big mess, raving psycho on the loose."

"We can contain him, and we are going to impregnate his mind with thoughts. Thoughts which will far more interest Angelus than eating Angel's associates."

"Right, and that's why we had to send the love birds away. I still don't think this is such a good idea."

"Well that's great Charles, but until you come up with something better..."

Gunn interrupted him, "How about one rogue elf?"

"What?"

"We've got a lead on one of the elves, one of those good-evil elves. Turns out we do business with him. He's an arms dealer, runs his operation out of Canada."

"Canada?"

"Hey, who'd suspect an evil elf would be running arms out of the land of maple leaves? Personally, I've always been suspicious of those Canucks. They're a bit too quiet if you asked me."

"So he's running elven weapons out of Canada?"

"No, actual arms. He literally sells limbs. Some demon clans eat arms, he gets them from bodies donated to science or something. It's strictly a cadaver thing, and it's quite profitable, you should see his, er, it's impressive, and wrong." 

"Is he a Wolfram and Hart client, and if so, why?"

"He is, apparently dealing in dead body parts isn't exactly legal. We also help him smuggle them into the states."

"Gunn, we don't have time to go to Canada."

"I know. That's why I sent up the recovery team. He'll be here in a few hours."

"Well maybe he'll offer us an alternative to our current plan. But no matter what we have to release Angelus' soul, it's for the rebirth."

"It's all good, I got few problems with that. I'd love to kick that guys ass."

"Who's ass are we kicking?" Faith asked coming into the room. "You know I hate to be left out of a good ass kicking, or spanking." She said with varying levels of innuendo.

"Hey Faith, what's up?" Gunn asked.

"Actually, I was looking for you."

"Hm, wonders never cease. I'll leave you two, I need to arrange some, er, things. Yes, see you later." Wesley quickly ducke dout.

"So I was thinkin', Buffy's gone, Angel's brooding and I'm just itching for some rough and tumble."

"You wanna spar?"

"Yeah, somethin' like that." Faith said with a wink as she headed down to the training room. Of course, Gunn followed her.

* * *

"I can't believe I just watched a bunch of girls dance around topless." Buffy remarked as they walked down the Vegas strip.

"Come On! That's quality entertainment! Please, let's not act like you weren't completely entranced, pet. Am I right Pike?"

"There was definate fly-catching going on at one point."

"I rest my case, love."

The three of them stopped in front of Bally's. "Well guys, this is my stop. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Here's my spare key. I should be home around five am. I might do a quick sweep after work, so don't wait up for me." Pike handed Buffy the jey and gave her a wink.

"And if we aren't home, don't wait up for us mate. But if you don't here from us in 24 hours, call this number, ask for Giles or Wesley." Spike handed Pike a copy of the Hyperion's number.

"Buffy, please try to keep the shenanigans to a minimum. This is Vegas, you can get into a lot of trouble in the blink of an eye."

"Minimal shenanigans, check. And wow do you sound like Giles."

"Well a little bird did tell me that the Watcher's Council has a few openings." Pike laughed. "But honestly guys, be careful around here, there are a lot of demons who would just love to add 'Slayer Killer' to their titles."

"Don't worry, I'll keep a good eye on our girl." Spike said as Pike ducked into an employees entrance door. 

"Where to now? I say Caesar's Palace or the Belaggio, I hear that's where the good shopping is. The Venitian too."

"Sure, but first we are goin' here." Spike pulled her onto a side street and into a small off-strip casino.

"Um, I think eww sums this up. This place was definately not in the brochure." Buffy looked around the small casino. Few people were in it, mostly people that could be identified as locals. It was much quieter than the other casinos. It would not cause headaches, but then there was the smell of old beer, and the dirt beaten into the carpet. The whole place made Buffy want to wash her hands for an eternity.

"It might not be pretty, but if the locals gamble in here you know there is money. All the money in Vegas isn't in those ritzy titzy casinos, it's all here, off-strip." Buffy could practically see the dollar signs in his eyes.

"Yes, as well as all the grime, dirt, and scum."

"Here's a hundred dollars, go find a slot machine and double your money. I've gotta find myself a poker game." He handed her the money and wandered away.

"So much for the glamour of Vegas." Buffy muttered as she sat at an Elvis machine. "Come on Elvis, don't be cruel." She said as she launched the first of her money into the machine.

Two hours later Buffy had nearly four hundred dollars, and had lost her patience with slot machines. She was also a bit dizzy from all that reel spinning. She finally found Spike at a blackjack table.

"I thought you were looking to play poker?" She asked as she slipped her arms around him. "Or was it just not the same without the kitten wagers?" She whispered into his ear.

"Noone left to play with." Spike motioned over to the three empty poker tables. "I sort of cleaned the lot of them out." He said showing her the piles of chips in front of him.

"Ooh, you're like the lord of the plastic chips." Buffy mocked.

"Don't mock me love, this is about seventy thousand dollars."

Her eyes nearly fell out of her head when he said that. "What?"

"Lots of money, all represented by plastic chips, I'm tellin' you, if I had known these casinos were going to be this profitable I would have invested in Bugsy when I had the chance! Instead I laughed at his 'desert paradise' fantasy. Goes to show I'm not much on the forethought."

"You knew the guys who built Vegas?"

"Of course! Angel did too, but I was less of a friend and more of an associate to them. In fact, I know where Jimmy Hoffa is, and let me tell you it's not in a pair of concrete boots. Hell, he isn't even in this dimension!" Spike gathered his chips and headed for the cash-out area. "So love, you want to go do that bit of shopping? I'd like to head over to the Venetian and try their high stakes poker tables. See if I can get a free room out of them."

"Free room? We have a place to stay."

"No love, I'm talking a suite at one of the most lavish hotels in all of Vegas. Like you really want to sleep on Pike's couch instead of a king sized bed."

"Point taken."

The two of them headed over to the Venetian, and while both put up a front of happiness, both were deeply troubled by what was about to happen in L.A. They both even felt a bit guilty about not being there, but the guilt was a very small bit, and was easily overrode for Buffy with a visit to the Jimmy Choo shoe store. She wasn't superficial, there was just something relieving about shoes this cute. Plus it was kind of nice not to be at the center of the apocalypse for once.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: So I got an idea and had to run with it. Thus new chapter even sooner! Welcome to my new reader Zanthinegirl! Are you a new reader? well I can't thank you unless you REVIEW!!! Okay I'll stop pandering now. BTW: Imagine Stevie to have the silly human quirks of Skip (pre-evil) and you'll get why I think he's absolutely hysterical.

* * *

The blue creature standing in front of them was not nearly as unnerving as they had thought he would be. He was dressed like some sort of homosexual lumberjack, he may have been colorblind. But, he didn't look like a cadaver parts dealer at all.

"Hi, I'm Stevie." He reached out an icy blue hand to Wesley. He took it apprehensively.

"Welcome, er, Stevie."

"So I hear that the boys are acting up again. Should have known they wouldn't stay down forever.Oh well." Stevie flopped into a lounge chair in the hotel's lobby.

"We are interested in information on your brethren." Giles stood next to Wesley. Together they made quite the intimidating interrogation team. Even if you didn't know about their collective paths, they just seemed to simmer with something less than sane under the surface. Considering Wesley kept a woman locked in his closet, and Giles had conspired to kill Spike, they truely were not to be trifled with. Unfortunately, Stevie seemed all too willing to cooperate.

"I take it you've met the Berzerkers? Shape-splitting warriors? Wear funny rings?"

"Yes we've had an interesting run in with one regenerating from a pile of goo."

"If you boil it you can destroy the regeneration."

"Thanks for the tip. Tell us more, we need to know everything."

"We are Svartalf, kinda like vampires, but not. Feeding from the gods and all that. Odin, he's the leader, but he's more of the brains and loud booming voice of their operation. He's pretty much defensless, if you can get past the Berzerkers. Mimir is his scribe, again with the defenseless, but even more so. Mimir makes puppies look vicious. There are four old ones with them. They are seers, they are probably seeing what's going on here right now. Damn, man I so don't want to deal with them."

"Can we prevent them from seeing what is going on here?"

"Yeah, look into the books of assimilation. There are some runes you paint around the doors, and if you paint one on everyone here they will fall off the radar. See?" Stevie lifted up his shirt to reveal a strange symbol tatooed into his skin. "I got this about fifty years ago, they haven't bothered me since. If they are seeing anything right now, it's the lot of you talking to a chair, which, hey you gotta admit is funny."

Wesley left to look for the books with a nod from Giles.

"Thank you for the tip Stevie, now how do we stop them?"

"You got anything to eat? I'm not talking flesh of the gods or anything, more like taquitos or perhaps some Thai left-overs? I'm starving!"

"We'll get you something as soon as you tell us how to stop them." Giles tone became menacing.

"Man, why do you need me, from what I hear you've got a champion, two slayers and two divine beings. I can't top that kind of fire power."

"They are after Angel, we need to know why."

"It's in his blood. He's Aurelian right?"

"Yes."

"Well, it's in his blood. I gave it to the Master last time around, it probably matriculated down through the line. The word underground is there are only two true ones left, and one is crazy and has the sight. She's too tough a target. Plus Angelus is the master vampire of the line, they wipe him out, the nut job can't carry the line herself, and the blood goes down the drain of time."

"Angel," He corrected Stevie, "Not Angelus."

"Well 'Angel'," Stevie said the name with marked sarcasm, "is what they want, just hand him over and I'm sure they'll stop."

"We will do no such thing. There is a prophecy involved."

"Oo a prophecy, I see a prophecy that says you will feed a very hungry elf before he starts picking off random people."

"Not until you tell us how to stop them." Giles was moving towards him with a Ripper like glare to his eyes.

"Alright! Jeeze, I'll tell you. See when me and Hank, the other elf like me, left we went to the Master of vampires and the leader of the light elves. I got the Master guy. Scary looking too if I might add, 'going batty' was not lost on him. So, we fed them some enchanted herbs and stuff, things that would make their blood more powerful than the blood that raged through the Svartalf. Hank and I, we weren't into the world domination, we just sort of wanted out of the pit, so when we got that we were happy. But Odin, self appointed leader, he wanted none of it, he wanted to be like emperor of earth. Nevermind that there were humans to contend with, or a whole other bevy of demons and the like. So Hank and I worked a bit of mojo, talked to some faerie folk and worked out a way to kill our leaders so we could be free. Insurrectionists I think Odin called us, always with the fancy words that one."

"So what needs to be done with the blood?"

"Well we gave the herbs to two different immortal beings, cos even if they lost a lot of blood they would survive. We forgot about the Berzerkers and what a bitch it could be to get through them. Herbs don't work on them because they aren't Svartalf. But technically, if an enchanted one, or one who carries the enchanted blood within him can get close enough to the elders or Odin, or whatnot, all they have to do is bleed on them to make them mortal. Then a slice and dice will finish them off."

"But there is the problem of the Berzerkers."

"Yeah, but they have no tolerance for heat, so I can't imagine they will last long around here. Light elves aren't as conditioned to the heat as we are. So they should be weakened, and they will be slower to regnerate. The boiling water can kill the globules to stop reproduction all together. Can I get a snack now?"

"Is that all?"

"Yes! Jeeze man, you've got some trust issues, I'm sure Dr. Phil could help you out on that front."

"Fine, we will look into this, please come with me, and we will find you something to eat."

"Super-de-duper!" Stevie jumped up and bounded over to Giles like a child. "So this is L.A.? Do you guys have any famous clients?" 

* * *

Buffy was tired. She was sitting in the atrium of the Venetian drinking a latte. Shopping was a lot of work. Shopping when you had this kind of cash was even more work.

"Well shut my mouth and call me Liza! Buffy, is that you muffin?" Lorne walked up to the table. He always had this air about him as if he were in on some hugely fabulous secret that no one else knew.

"Lorne! Oh no! I forgot you were here!"

"That isn't the hugs and puppies I was looking for Cupcake!"

"Sorry" Buffy stood up and gave him a hug. 

Lorne sat down accross from her. "So what's with the trip to the Las of Vegas? And where did you get the dough to buy all of this stuff?"

"You can't tell anyone where we are Lorne, I mean it!"

"We?"

"Spike and I."

"Ooo, is this some sort of dangerous liason? A clandestine meeting away from all that ails the two of you?"

"In a sense. We are in danger, so Giles and Wesley told us to leave town and tell no one where we are. You can't let them know you've seen us."

"I see."

"No you don't!"

"Sugar, empath demon here, the fear is rolling off of you. This doesn't just concern the two of you either, there are other, innocents involved."

"Yes there is. Please Lorne.."

"Say no more Sweet Tart! So where's the dark avenger?"

"Playing poker or something, I don't know, I'm just tired of carrying around all of these bags."

"Well, let me help you out then!"

"No, I can carry them!"

"I wasn't offering to be a pack mule, this is Vegas we hire people to do stuff like that!" He took out his cell phone and barked some orders in a language Buffy wasn't familar with. "Where are you staying, I can have them delivered any where you like."

"Well, um..."

"We are staying in the govenor's suite at the Belaggio." Spike came up behind her, kissing her on the neck. "Evening, love."

"Hey, I thought you were..."

"And I was, and I won more money than I can spend, casino managers like to keep those of us who take a lot of their money close, gave me the govenor's suite for the next 3 days. It's just something small, five or six rooms, jacuzzi, 56 inch plasma screen with 3 football stations. That sort of thing."

Buffy squealed, "Oh my god! When do we go?"

"Is Lorne going to..."

"No he won't tell them where we are."

"Hey blondie, looks like you got over your tall dark and brooding days." Lorne could see the wipe of anger pass over his face, "Simmer down, I know you aren't like him! Buffy, well the Ballagio is sending over some helpers to get your things to your room. I have to get hoppin' but what are the two of you doing tomorrow?"

"Nothin' but sittin' around our luxury sweet I reckon." Spike winked at Buffy.

"Well, not anymore. I'm taking you kids out on the town. Based on your collective worry-wart vibes, you two need to let go a bit, and that's why Uncle Lorne is here. I'll swing by, 8 o'clock, be dressed to thrill, and yes Mr. tough guys that means color and evening wear."

"Oo fancy like. I'm in." Buffy smiled at the opportunity. Generally an evening in a dress ended in either a drowning or began with hell hounds so she was ready for a freak free evening.

"I'll show you the Vegas few get to see!" Lorne stood up and waved over two guys in monkey suits. Not literal moneky suits, those silly bell hop uniforms. "Here boys, these are the bags!" The guys grabbed the bags and headed off. "Well, I've got to get back and get my beauty sleep, but I'll see you two tomorrow." Lorne leaned down and kissed Buffy on the cheek, he moved towards Spike.

"Oh no! I've got a manly image to keep up." Spike instead shook his hand.

"Ta!" Lorne walked off.

"Well Mr. manly image, I'm sleepy, let's go check out that suite."

"Anything you like, pet." Spike and Buffy headed back towards their hotel, as they walked Spike took her hand. Buffy only smiled.

* * *

"Mr. Pennycuff. It's my pleasure." The casino manager met Spike at the front desk. "Please let me escort you and your lovely wife to your suite." The man turned and retrieved the key from the desk clerk. "They are in room 1015, Mr. and Mrs. Pennycuff are not to be denied anything. Just put it on the hotel account, Mr. Pennycuff is one of our high rollers."

Buffy turned to Spike and mouthed 'Pennycuff?' he only smiled at her. "I'll explain later Elizabeth." She then looked quizzically at him.

"Do we need to retrive your bags from another hotel?"

"No, I'm sure Elizabeth here has spent enough money at your little shops that we won't be needing anything from our former residence." Spike shook the man's hand.

"It's always lovely to have visitors from across the pond. Tell me where are you from?"

"I'm originally from London, but haven't been there in an age. Came over here and met my girl, and well I haven't left yet."

The manager turned to Buffy, "I can see why sir, she's a lovely lady." He took Buffy's hand and kissed it.

"Now Mr. Pennycuff, let's get you situated."

"Please, call me William."

The manager took them to their room and gave them a tour. As soon as the door clicked shut Buffy was on him.

"William Pennycuff? Pennycuff? Did you make that up?" She said with a laugh.

"No love, it's my proper name. William Randolf Pennycuff. And for the record you are my lovely wife Elizabeth Anne Pennycuff."

"Elizabeth?"

"Yes, Elizabeth. Lots of them go by the name Buffy."

"Oh really?"

"Or so I've heard."

"And where did you hear that?"

"From Pike."

"That bastard! I should have known."

"Nice that you had it legally changed before heading to Sunnydale. Did it make it easier to hide that juvenile record?"

"Ask Snyder, oh wait, he's snake food."

"Well Mrs. Pennycuff what should we do now?" Spike asked her with a sinister grin.

"Did you have to make us married?"

"We are incognito! No one would suspect!" He leaned in a kissed her.

"A wife's work is never done." She giggled and settled back into him. "I think there is an obcenely large bed that needs exploration."

"Oh do you?" She nearly screamed when he picked her up, "I'm guessing the honeymoon isn't over just yet." He winked at her and carried her to bed.


	25. Chapter 25

Author's Note: So Today I've been on a bit of a story roll as you can well enough see. I'm sorry I'm a lazy punk. I am in desperate need of a Beta for this story. Basically I need someone who can proof my chapters to make sure I am staying within my own cannon (story line). I can't keep track of the stuff going on in this story anymore and it has thus become increasingly difficult to motivate myself to write (cos I'm convinced I'm gonna screw somehting up and the lot of you are gonna yell at me). And after reading the last chapter I apparently need someone who can help me proof the spelling too, none of this is written on a program with a spell check so I rarely fix anything. Well if you'd like to apply for the position of beta email me: ladydrae at execpc dot com (written out so you can see it, if you don't know how to make that an email addy, well I doubt you should be beta-ing) or IM me on AIM at ladybtvspike. The benefits are you get credited as being the supreme ass-istant to me (and if you contribute ideas you get a writing credit too, ooo), you get to read everything first (if you wanna beta all my stories you get all of them first) and I might have an incredibly smutty (ie: non ff.net appropriate material NC-17) Spuffy story you exclusively can read (I may also have some Spillow and Waith (Willow and Faith)as well). And well I'll love you as will all my readers cos then I'll be able to spit out chapters for this story more easily. And isn't love a good enough reward????? Alternately I'd be willing to help you with your own stories or heck if I like you lots, I'll let you write an entire chapter (which is not me trying to get out of writing, just me trying to make this deal sound appealing cos there is no cash involved). Or I can burn you a copy of the un-aired Buffy pilot! That's right see Sunnydale with the original Willow and before the technology to actually dust vamps (trust me its hilarious), watch Xander and Jesse be adorable skater punks, love the evil Miss Cordelia Chase, and see what the Library originally looked like! Oh the suspense! And yes, this chapter is horribly short and crappy, that's why I need you beta!!!  
  
My Final note before starting this story, which may be mildly spoilerish to those of you who haven't seen the last ::wipes tear:: of Angel, but I would just like to type out one of the finest lines ever written by Joss for Angel: "I don't know about you, but I kinda want to slay the dragon. Let's go to work." Joss, thank you for making Angel's last episode about 6,000 times better than Buffy's last hour. You made me believe that this 'verse really isn't over!!!!

"So we have some more options on how to stop these elves, Stevie has been quite helpful." Giles told the few he could gather in the lobby of the Hyperion. Andrew was busy painting runes on doors and windows, with Xander and Gunn assisting. "Currently we are making our operation invisible to them, which may make them angry enough to forgoe the blood moon waring date and instead strike early. I doubt it though. Fred we will need for your science division to create a weapon which pumps out boiling water. You have only a few days to do this, I appologize for the short notice. Once the Berzerkers are chopped up that boiling water will stop regeneration. We may also be able to just shoot them with it and stop them, but we aren't sure on that. Their warriors cannot tolerate this climate so they should be slower and easier to stop. The lot of us will be working to stop them, or at least keep them busy enough to get Faith, Willow and Angelus through the line."

"I'll get Knox on it right after we get our temporary tatoos." Fred smiled.

Faith looked at Angel and asked, "I know we have plans and all, but what's to stop him from eating us?"

"Willow is going to do a protection spell so he can't hurt you, but that does not mean he won't be dangerous."

"I'm sitting right here!"

"Angel, you know best of all that Angelus isn't neccessarily the most predictable individual. We need him to complete this mission, it's that simple." Giles looked back to the group. "We no longer believe that the portal will be neccessary. Although Willow will have one on the backburner should we come to need it. This is falling into place a little too nicely, so we should all be anticipating something going wrong."

"Because it's just not the apocalypse without wacky antics!" Xander laughed.

"Alright, those of you who have things to do, get marked and head out. Angel, Cordelia should be coming in soon, could you please send Wesley to pick her up? I'd hate for a stranger to meet her at the airport. Faith and Willow, I need to talk to you." Giles ended the mini-meeting.

"Giles, why is Cordy on her way back?" Angel asked.

"Oh, we, uh, well Wesley said she was needed for something, I'm really not all that clear on it." Angel walked off looking confused.

"So boss, what's the dealy?" Faith asked.

"Willow, I need you to start seeding Angel's mind now. If the Svartalf opt to strike sooner rather than later we need everything in place."

"No problem. Just let me know what you want planted in there and I'll get my hoe!" Willow looked shocked, "Garden implement hoe, not other hoe, oh of course, I become a goddess and still say the worst possible thing ever!" She started laughing.

"Now the plan has changed somewhat. We are going to get the three of you through the line. Angelus has to bleed on the Svartalf to make them mortal, then they should be easy to kill. If Angelus won't bleed freely, Willow you may have to do a spell."

"I've always felt that knives made blood flow much easier than magic." Faith added. "And you know how much I love knives."

"That is an option as well. Once they have been bled on kill them. Once they are all dead, kill Angelus, err dust him."

"Not a problem." Faith smiled. "I'd love to give that bastard just what's coming to him."

* * *

Humble reader: Okay I know this chapter sucked, I am so sorry that I even put it up, I'll probably rework it, I just wanted to get somehting up so you don't think I'm dead. 


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